Storm on the Horizon
by FanFickChick1992
Summary: Hiccups in charge, but between feuding friends and their dragons, the aftermath of a horrible storm, and the safety of the village, what will happen when something unexpected floats in with the tide? Can they handle the danger to come?
1. What the Storm Blew In

Fallen houses, missing livestock, and sinking ships, were only a few of Hiccup's many problems the morning after the worst storm to hit Berk in years. To make matters worse his father, the Chief, had been called away to meet with the Viking's head council, to decide on a peace treaty between two warring villages. This, and having the entire village in shambles, was nearly sending him over the edge of insanity.

Seeing an opportunity to breathe, Hiccup and his band of helpful (yet hopelessly useless) companions, made their way to the docks. It had been an awful morning for him to be in charge, and the bickering among those in the group, was ready to break what little spirit he had left.

Ruffnut and Tuffnut walked side by side pulling each other's hair, in yet another argument over strength. Snotlout and Fishlegs were ready to eat each other alive, and Astrid was in another, "mood". No one had been getting along lately, and it was starting to affect not only them, but their dragons. Toothless along with several others, kept his distance, but also a constant watch over his rider.

"Will you please stop fighting?" Hiccup turned with arms half extended, before glaring among the group with a scowl of irritation. "It's very hard to think when you all yell at once!" Tuning back, he began to grumble inaudibly as he walked even faster down the steps toward the docks.

"What's eating him?" Tuffnut looked to Astrid with a surprised look on his face.

"I don't know, why don't you ask Fishlegs? After all, he's the one who can't seem to shut up for five minutes." Astrid's tone was sharp, and her words didn't go over well with Ruffnut.

"Well maybe he's upset because his girlfriend's a total troll!" Seeing Astrid clench her fists, Ruffnut made herself ready for an all out brawl.

"The only Troll here is you miss showers twice a week!" Lunging forward, Astrid grabbed Ruffnut's hair with one hand, and slammed her against the hard surface of the wooden steps.

In retaliation, Tuffnut grabbed Astrid and forcefully tossed her to the side. "That's not cool Astrid!"

"And her calling me a troll is so sweat?" She was once again on her feet, and running toward Tuffnut. Grabbing him, she pulled him close and was ready to land a punch, when Fish legs grabbed her and held her back.

"Lay off her Tuffnut." Snotlout was raging mad as he stepped between both Astrid and Tuffnut. "You're sister was the one being ru-" He was caught off guard as Tuffnut slammed one fist into his face. "You little…!" Balling his fist he stepped forward, barely missing the rim of Tuffnut's nose as he took his first swipe.

"Get off of me!" Astrid looked down, and in her rage, bit Fishlegs' hand to get free of his grasp. "What do you think you're do-" A split pain coursed through her side, as Ruffnut kneed her in the ribs. "Y-you…" Upon gaining her breath back, she tackled Ruffnut, sending the two of them rolling down the steps.

They were now all battling against one another, and seeing the problem quickly begin to escalate, the dragons jumped into the action to defend their riders. It happened so fast that none of the villagers quite knew what to think.

Dragons and their riders hissing and yelling at one another, as if they were children fighting over a toy. Just before the situation worsened, Toothless jumped in and gave a few ear splitting roars. Once things were silent, he looked from dragon to dragon, growling as if to scold them for being so childish. With that, each dragon marched off carrying a very disgruntled and bewildered rider.

Seeing the mess taken care of, Toothless turned from the scene where the chaos had taken place, and watched as his rider stood at the end of the dock, beating his head forcefully against a wooden poll. He didn't like seeing his rider like this, and it always worried him. However, he did know what usually helped when Hiccup got like this.

Making his way down the remainder of the steps, Toothless soon found himself sitting at the edge of the dock. Looking over, he watched as Hiccup ignored his presence and continued to beat his head against the wood. Feeling that it probably wasn't best to allow him to continue, he raised his tail and slipped it between Hiccup's head and the poll. That got his attention.

"Toothless, what am I gunna do with them?" Reaching up, he grabbed the handmade fin and played with it in his hands as he thought. "Better yet, what am I going to do with…everything?" At that came a low caring croon, as Toothless flexed his one good tail fin in front of Hiccup's face. "You always know what I need, and when I need it most. Where to?" Turning, Hiccup took one of the saddles handles and climbed on.

Feeling grateful that his plan had worked, Toothless looked back with his usual toothless grin. That was the usual sign he gave for "valley". The valley was the place where their friendship had sparked, and there was never a week gone by that they didn't make it out there. "Ok then, the valley it is." Giving Toothless a thankful pat on the neck, Hiccup adjusted the tail fin and they were off.

Flying over the village, things didn't seem so bad. Compared to the mount of village still standing, the damage only looked superficial at best. Everything looked much better from the air than it did from the ground, and feeling a bit of the load he carried disappear, a smile crossed Hiccup's face. "Thanks again bud, I owe you a big basket of salmon later." The two of them laughed as they passed near the shore line a small distance away from the village, and before they had been flying for too long, something caught Hiccups eye.

Looking over, there seemed to be a stray boat lying beached and capsized on the sand. At first, his thoughts were that a boat had been lost from the harbor, and drifted to the beach in the storm. However, this thought was soon dismissed, for laying next to the boat, waving in the wind, was a small flag bearing the name "Neptune". Being familiar with the many boats in the harbor, he didn't recognize the name as being familiar.

"Toothless, look down there." Getting his attention, Hiccup pointed to the odd, capsized vessel on the beach. "Wanna see what it is?"

The answer was of course a yes, and upon landing Hiccup made a disturbing discovery. What could be seen from the air, was merely half of what was once a much larger boat. The mast now lay at an angle underneath the twisted wood panels that aligned the hull of the ship, and the canvas that had once steered the boat, was now entangled in what appeared to be a bit of net and fishing line.

"Did the storm do all of this?" Taking a step forward to examine the wreck further, Hiccup nearly jumped out of his skin when the entire mesh of wood and canvas began to move a bit.

From somewhere underneath the wreck, came a low groan followed by a few muffled growls. It sounded a little weak but they could almost hear someone asking for help.

"I-I'm coming!" Feeling it was his job to help someone, anyone in need, Hiccup began to try and push the massive boat off of whoever was underneath. "Toothless, help me." Looking back he could see an irritated look on the face of his dragon. "Toothless what is it? I need your help!"

Stepping forward, Toothless cautiously wedged his snout between the sand and the wood of the boat, before lifting it up with a great forceful push. Once he had the massive boat flipped right side up, all that remained was a massive clump of canvas. For a moment nothing moved, and everything was quiet, but it didn't take long for the growls and fumbling around to begin again.

This time the growls sounded weak, and it could be determined that somewhere among the canvas was a dragon of some sort. There also appeared to be someone groaning in a bit of pain from under the white mess.

Reaching out, Hiccup took a bit of cloth in one hand and pulled up, before Toothless rushed in and dragged him back. "Hey! Toothless, stop that! Someone needs help." Plating his feet firmly under him, Hiccup pulled away from Toothless and looked back. If you want to stand with me I'm ok with it bud, but I have to help who ever might be under that canvas.

Giving Hiccup a look of irritation, Toothless walked side by side with him until they once again stood by the canvassed area.

"Ok, let's try this again." Bending over, Hiccup took the cloth in his hand again and began to pull it away. What he revealed shocked the both of them.

Under the cloth there lay a Night Fury, and a girl around Hiccup's age. The only problem was, that the Night Fury was as white as fresh snow, instead of black like the night sky. The girl wore her long brown hair, tied in the back instead of braided (which Hiccup found to look odd). She wore a mossy green shirt, with sleeves long enough to cover half her hands, and her pants were black. Her boots were made of deer skin, and appeared to be nearly black themselves.

"Who do we have here?" Reaching out a hand to touch the strange Night Fury, he found that almost instantly he was the target of an attempted bite. "Whoa!" His hand leapt back to his side as he stepped away.

Toothless, seeing Hiccup put in danger, charged to attack.

"Stop!" Looking over, the girl was now on her feet, looking particularly exhausted. In one quick move, she managed to throw herself on top of the white Night Fury in protection. "Don't hurt him!"

"Toothless, don't!" Running forward, Hiccup also placed himself between Toothless and the other obviously weaker Night Fury. "Stay calm bud. It's ok, I'm not hurt." With both hands in the air, he managed to get Toothless to settle down before turning to the girl. "Sorry about that, I guess I shouldn't try to touch an unfamiliar dragon."

Seeing that the Night Fury under her was now unconscious, the girl turned and looked Hiccup in the eye. "Please…help me."

"Help you with what?" He could see the look of desperation worn apparently on the girls face. "What's wrong? Are you hurt?"

Shaking her head she looked from him, over to Toothless, and then back at him. "This is just a shot in the dark, but are you Hiccup?"

"Yes, my name is Hiccup…but how did you know that?" Looking back at Toothless he began to get confused. "Have we met before?"

"No, we haven't met before. I heard about a Viking named Hiccup on an island of dragons. I-I came here to find him…er, you." She let out a sigh of relief before standing up and extending a hand. "The name's Ember."

Following her lead Hiccup also extended a hand. "I would introduce myself, but it appears you already know who I am."

"Indeed I do." Feeling grateful to be in the right place, Ember looked back at the White Night Fury behind her. "This is Marble…he's sick, and I don't know what to do. I think he's dying."

This news seemed to strike both Hiccup and Toothless as alarming.

"Let's um…let's get him back to my village-the village." Feeling a bit taken, it took Hiccup a moment to get his plan straight. "W-will he…will he let us carry him back?"

"Here's the thing. Even I can barely touch him without him tying to bite, or blast me." Kneeling down next to Marble she patted his head softly. "But if he's unconscious like he is right now, then yes. I'd say you could carry him like this."

"Good, then we'll be back to the village in an hour." Looking over at Toothless, he gave him a few encouraging nods. "Bud in the shape he's in, you could probably drop him and the fight would be over." In the next moment he felt a throbbing pain in the back of his head as Ember smacked him.

"Don't say that! Don't you ever say that!" An angry look stood plastered to Embers face as she spoke. Now let's get him to a fire, before all of his energy leaves him."


	2. Who's Madam Kroll?

People gathered around in masses after hearing that Hiccup had returned with a couple of wary strangers. The most interesting of which was Marble, who seemed to be causing quite a stir. Unlike most Night Furies, his skin was as white as freshly fallen snow. This fact had people pondering whether or not they could even begin to seriously call him a Night Fury.

"You have to admit Hiccup, a white Night Fury is a bit peculiar." Gobber stood scratching his head with his prosthetic hook hand. "The whole reason we even call them Night Furies is…well…because of the black color."

"Gobber I know it's kind of strange, but he looks just like Toothless. He may be a little off in his color, but he's from a different land. Maybe it's normal where he comes from." Hiccup stood prodding the fire next to Marble's unmoving body. He had switched jobs with Toothless, after failing to keep curious onlookers from barging in to see the new-comers. Toothless however, had no problem keeping any nosy villagers away from the door.

"Well, he lived in the mountains of Zanara. It's cold up there, and the ground is usually covered in snow. Plus there are blizzards, and snow storms…maybe that's why he's so different from your Night Fury." Ember sat patting Marbles head with a bandaged hand. "He was lying in a snow bank when I…found him like this a few weeks ago. I wouldn't have known he was there if he hadn't moved." A tinge of sorrow flashed across her face before she shook her head. "You can help him can't you?"

"Even though I been with toothless for a couple of years, I've never had to (thank Oden),deal with him being sick." Hiccup knelt down and placed a hand on Marbles side. "His breathing is strange, and unlike other dragons he feels cool to the touch. Are you sure you don't know what made him like this?"

There was a long pause before Ember looked up and shook her head. "No. I don't know."

"Well then, I suppose you'll have find Madam Kroll." Gobber sounded displeased as he spoke. There was a slight look of irritation following his words, that caused a questioning look to cross the faces of both Hiccup and Ember.

"Who's Madam Kroll?" The two of them spoke simultaneously, and then fell silent.

"U-um…sorry, who's madam Kroll?" Ember Continued feeling curious. "I've never heard of her, and I did a lot of asking around before I came here."

"She's not very well known. All I know is that not so long ago, she came to the village to 'cleanse' us of an illness that our healers couldn't cure. Hiccup was wee lad at the time, so he wouldn't remember her. All I remember is her working her devils magic with the village water. What she did saved the village. If ya need a cure, she's the one to see." Gobber still looked very cross as he spoke, and half the time he appeared to be ready to tear something apart.

"Gobber, if she saved he village, why do you look so mad at her?" Hiccup stepped forward looking confused.

Appearing at once to be full of grief, Gobber reached out with his good hand and took Hiccup by the shoulder. "She didn't save everyone Hiccup. You were such a small boy…and your mother was just too sick. When she didn't get better I…" Clearing his throat and trying to look tough again, Gobber released Hiccup and turned, holding his hands behind his back. "Well, after your mother didn't get better, Madam Kroll left. I've always felt that had she not gone when she did, your mother would have gotten better."

Hiccup looked both stunned and hurt all at once, and the poker fell out of his hand as he looked to Gobber. "So my mother could very well have lived? Why did she leave?"

"Hiccup, does that even matter now?" Ember spoke up after a long few minutes of being silent. "Honestly, that was a long time ag-"

"It matters to me." Hiccup didn't sound angry, but pained. It was apparent that his mother was still something that hurt him to talk about. "I'm not going to get someone to help us that couldn't even help my mother." Turning Hiccup looked scorned as he picked up the poker and sat down to prod the fire again.

"What?" Shooting to her feet, Ember stormed across the room, nearly stepping on the poker as Hiccup dropped it. "You listen here Hiccup! I've gone through hell to get here to find that dragon some help. You are not going to ruin his only chance of survival!"

Hearing the noise from all the yelling, Marble's eyes shot open. For a moment he didn't move as he looked round the room, and finding his ware bouts confusing and unfamiliar didn't set well with him. He gave a low roar, and stood up on all fours. His wings spread awkwardly, knocking things from the walls as he attempted to fly.

"Hey! Marble, stop that! You shouldn't move!" Turning from Hiccup, Ember grabbed a small quilt from a chair near the wall, and tossed it over Marbles head. "Hey, calm down!"

Toothless, having heard the commotion, burst through the door to see what was going on. There were a few weakening roars as Marbles legs began to shake under him, and all at once, he again fell to the floor to weak to move.

"Shh…calm down, just rest ok…?" Feeling it was once again safe, Ember lightly pulled the quilt from over his head and frowned. There was something almost guilty about the way she looked at him. "Don't you see Hiccup? He needs help…" Trying to hold a few tears back Ember blinked. "And if you won't help me get him well again, then I guess I'll just have to find Madam what's her face on my own." After a long moment of looking confused and deflated, Ember rose to her feet.

"No, I'll go." Hiccup finally admitted defeat. "But are you sure you don't know how he got so sick?"

She snapped back almost immediately. "I told you. I don't know what happened. I just feel awful seeing him suffer like this. Wouldn't you feel bad if you came upon a dying dragon?" She looked up staring daggers through him before softening again. "Sorry...it's just been a long few weeks."

After a moment of silence, Toothless and Hiccup exchanged glances before grinning in acceptance of some unspoken plan. "Ok, well as long as that's the truth we'll go find Madam Kroll for you."

"Why did you change your mind?" Ember didn't quite understand. "She…your mother I mean…I'm sure she didn't…" She was then overcome by guilt and exhaustion. "I don't know…"

"Well I must admit, I dislike going off to find someone who gave up on my mother…but if she can help Marble get better, then I guess I have no other choice." Looking over at Toothless he half grinned before tilting his head. "Plus, there aren't many other Night Furies out there. If I can save one, then maybe the species will be in better shape."

"Thanks Hiccup." Ember stood up and held out her bandaged hand. "And thanks for helping me with my hand. It may only be a small sprain, but it helped a lot to have it bandaged. How did you become so skilled in things like that?"

Looking from Ember over to Toothless and then back to Gobber, Hiccup remembered every flying incident he had had in the last two or so years. It was an awkward silence, and no one really knew what to say for a moment. "Um…let's just say that ever since I started flying with Toothless, I've gone through enough bandages to sail a ship."

"You fly on them? I know that must sound like a silly question, but I never pictured a dragon taking to someone flying with them. It seems…I don't know…like they'd get mad." Ember scratched the back of her head, feeling a tad embarrassed for making such an assumption. "Guess not though."

"Gobber, do you have any idea where Madam Kroll went after she left?" Hiccup turned to find him already searching the map on the far wall.

"She went back to the island of Uzuri." His prosthetic hook moved from the island of Berk, over to another smaller island to the west. "I can almost guarantee you, that if you find that island, you'll find her."

"Wait, you're going somewhere?" Out of nowhere, Astrid's voice came into the mix. She had entered so quietly, that no one, not even Toothless, had realized her presence. "Where may I ask, are you planning on going?"

"Astrid, can we not do this now? I-I…" Hiccup shut his mouth and looked back at her. "I have to go."

"Why do you HAVE to go?" The look in her eyes was enough to send Toothless hiding behind Hiccup in fear. "It's not exactly a great time for you to leave. We don't even have a leader, and you want to just go running off on some wild goose chase? After the village is in shambles?"

"I'm not leaving you without a leader." Turning, Hiccup walked over and pulled Ember to her feet. "Until I return, Ember will oversee the repairs and be the temporary leader."

"WHAT?"

Both girls seemed shocked by this sudden arrangement.

"Her? Hiccup, you've barely known her half a day, and you're going to make her the leader?" The look upon Astrid's face nearly sent Ember running for cover under Marbles wings. "See here Hiccup, I'm-"

"Not fit to run the village." Hiccup looked tortured as the words left his lips. No matter how true the words were, she was still his girlfriend, and the look she gave him made his heart ache for relief. "Astrid I'm sorry…I wish I could explain it without…" His voice trailed off as she left the room. "Without you getting mad."

After she had gone, Ember stood watching Hiccup with a look of bewildered amazement on her face. "You are TRULY, the biggest idiot I've ever come across in my entire life." Voice cracking, and words failing her, she continued. "I mean-I-I mean what if I were some….some psychopathic crazy person? What if I'm an escaped prisoner, looking for refuge in like…a village? WHAT IF I-" She was cut off mid sentence as a finger covered her mouth.

"Are you any of those things?" Hiccup looked back at Toothless, who seemed to be rather enjoying Ember's hysteria.

"No, but I-" She found her words cut short again by a second finger.

This one belonging to Gobber, who looked over at Hiccup with a rather amused, yet, calm expression. "The way I see it is this. He can't leave me in charge because…well. Let's just say it didn't go over well last time."

"And I can't leave Astrid or the others in charge because… well…they've been going through a rough patch, and can't seem to get past their anger and problems." A fact that had been proven to him with the events of the morning prior. "I need someone, well…sane, who can get what needs to be done, done." Retracting his hand, Hiccup turned to where Astrid had been standing only moments before. "If things were different…if I knew she could handle it…I would have picked Astrid for this job hands down."

"I really don't know what's going on between you and her, or them, but I'm just a stranger. Wont the people think it's kind of odd that you put me in charge?" She now looked for a way, any way, to get out of this.

"I'm going to get Madam Kroll for you. The least you can do in return is run the village for a couple of days." To Hiccup, this all seemed logical…

…but to Ember, not so much. "You say you need someone sane. Someone to make decisions, run the village, and keep order? Well…I'm not your girl. However…if you need someone to watch people clean up, Make sure no one dies, and keep an eye on your insane friends…then yeah. I think I can help." A slight grin appeared on her face after she spoke, and she extended a hand. "We have a deal."

The same grin crossed Hiccups face, as he too extended a hand. "Great. So, now that you're temporary acting Chief for the temporary acting Chief, there are a few things you need to know…"


	3. An unfortunate Experiance

OK PEOPLE THIS IS CHAPTER THREE. I KNOW ITS SHORT, BUT HONESTLY IT'S JUST ABOUT HIS FLIGHT. YOU STILL HAV TO READ IT THOUGHT BECAUSE I KNOW YOU DON'T SKIP HAPTERS IN STORY BOOKS ;D….-.- YOU BETTER NOT KIP THIS CHAPTER.

_**PLEASE REVIEW**_, AND FOR THOUSE OF YOU WHO READ MY HPOV STORY, NO WORRIES. MORE CHAPTERS ON THE WAY SOON. X-X NO TIME FOR FILM ANILIZATION IN THE LAST LIKE…TWO DAYS AND I GREW TIRED OF WATCHING FRAME BY FRAME ON MY LAPTOP. SO STICK WITH ME I'LL WRITE MORE.

The ocean stretched out for miles in all directions, as the island of Berk faded from view. It was just before sunrise, and both Toothless and Hiccup were headed to the distant island of Uzuri. The object of their search: Madam Kroll.

Getting to the island was a journey that would take little over a day to complete, and trailing behind them, attached to a rope, was a wooden dingy. This was the only way a dragon, such as Toothless, could fly for an entire day without landing in the water. It was a place for both rest and sleep, as long as the two of them were at sea.

"You ok down there bud?" With a groggy look in his eyes, Hiccup gave his companion a few light pats on the neck before yawning. He wasn't surprised to hear a few unhappy roars echo from below his place on the saddle. "Yes, I understand it's early for you." There came a few more roars, followed by a muffled inner bellow. At this, Hiccup merely rolled his eyes before checking the map and compass he had fastened in a newer, sturdier clip.

Getting up and leaving for such a long trip so early in the morning, peeved Toothless to no end. After all, he was a dragon, and preferred to sleep through most of the morning hours. It also didn't help that the entire trip there and back, would take place over the open ocean. If it was one thing he hated nearly just as much as an early morning, it was the open ocean. What bothered him wasn't so much the water, but the things that lived in it. Many of a dragons natural enemies dwelled in the water. Among the most deadly were the dreaded eels and the monstrous sea serpent. Both of these creatures were as dragons were, but with no wings or legs, and this is what supposedly made them so undesirable.

"Ok bud, just hang in there for a little while." The cool breeze that now carried them long, also helped to further awaken Hiccup's senses. Once awake, he began to sing an old Viking traveling song in an attempt at Humor. To a degree it worked, but after nearly three hours he noticed Toothless beginning to strain.

"Bud, if you need to land then land." Seeing that he too needed a break from his own chanting, Hiccup decided to stop wasting his energy on a song, and start putting it to more practical use.

Finding that a chance to rest was an appealing offer, Toothless dropped the dinghy's rope down into the water, before lightly descending on the small boat. After making sure that Hiccup was safely sitting on the bench at the end of the boat, he spread his wings one last time before entering into a deep sleep.

"That's it bud, you just rest up." Bending down, Hiccup searched a small bin under the bench where he now sat. Seeming to have finally found what he needed, he pulled out two small oars. This is where his energy would now be concentrated. What little distance he could manage to get them while Toothless slept, would make all the difference to his winged companion in the long run. "And One and two, and three and four…" Getting the oars in the water, Hiccup slowly but surely made progress.

~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~o~~~

Soon three more hours had crept by, and at this point there was no sign of life for miles. Still he continued to row. "Toothless~ Wake up~" In response to Hiccup's request, there came a few muffled croons. "I said wake up." Still more croons came forth as if to tease him. "Hey~" A wild grin crossed Hiccup's face as he stood up. "I know you're awake!" Oar in hand, he quickly began to splash Toothless with the cold sea water.

Still refusing to open his eyes, Toothless grinned with what sounded to be a low chuckle. The cool water against his sun baked skin felt quite a bit nicer than Hiccup had probably intended, which only added to his lazy nature.

"C'mon bud, we have to get flying again. I've gotten us at least fifteen more miles further along." The number sounded small as Hiccup thought about it, but taking into account the amount of weight on the boat, and that fact that he was…well…Hiccup, he came to the conclusion that it was an acceptable distance. "C'mon." Stepping forward, he extended a hand to nudge the lump of a Night Fury in front of him, but stopped short when Toothless opened his eyes showing narrow cat like slits. Seeing this normally meant that there was some kind of threat lingering about. The only problem was...what was it?

"Toothless, Bud, what's wro-" At that moment, something struck the boat from below, sending Hiccup falling face first into the water. As he entered, something immediately caught his attention. It was black as pitch, and almost appeared to be a long valley extending along the ocean floor. However, there was no sand, no dirt…nothing to claim as the sea floor. Only a vast valley of darkness amid the blue watery depths of the ocean beneath him. ("What in Oden's name…is that…?")

There was a sudden upward jerk, and he was pulled out of the water. Having only been under for a mere moment, there was no clear sigh of what it was he had just seen. The only thing he knew is that Toothless was now going absolutely stir crazy, causing the boat to thrash and tip in the water. "T-Toothless! Calm down bud, what is it?"

It was around the boat somewhere, and with that knowledge, Toothless snarled a raspy angered snarl. It was as if he had bitten into a basket of eel. Feeling a need to protect his rider, Toothless quickly hunkered down to allow for Hiccup to climb on. There wasn't a moment to loose, as he felt the danger growing closer.

Seeing the urgency in his manor, Hiccup quickly and willfully took his place back on the saddle. He hadn't had the rings clipped for more than a second before the two of them were shooting into the air at top speed. Due to the sudden rush of wind filling his ears, he didn't hear what followed the leap from the boat. The cracking and splintering of wood, the splash of something large leaving the water…and the ear splitting screech that leapt from the throat of the beast behind them.

Upon reaching a safe distance from the water, Hiccup turned for a glimpse back at the boat as Toothless flew on. It was gone, and the only thing that remained were a few pieces among the waters choppy surface, whatever had helped it meet its end…was gone. "Good job Toothless, I owe you big."

From then on there would be no stopping until they had reached their destination. It wasn't going to be an easy task for Toothless to merely fly over the open ocean for hours on end without a break. However, the only alternative would be to land in the water from time to time to "rest", which in any case could leave them susceptible to being attacked or downed. As far as either of them were concerned, it was better to be tired and strained than eaten or drowned.

~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~O~~~

It was now approaching midnight, and with the island in sight both Hiccup and Toothless rejoiced. It had been twelve hours since either of them had gotten to rest, and to make matters worse, Toothless was near stalling out.

"Bud, we're almost there." Trying to keep the exhaustion at bay, Hiccup tensed up all over. Compared to Toothless, he knew he had it easy. Flying so far with no rest was most likely as close to torture as it could get for a dragon, which pulled at Hiccups guilty conscience. He was beginning to see how truly fatigued his friend had become, as every fluid bet of the once strong wings beneath him began to become uneven. ("I'm sorry we were so unprepared for this…")

He could sense that something was off, but knew he had to keep going. If his wings stopped moving for even a second, there would be no re-starting them. Every muscle from the tip of his snout, to the end of his tail ached for rest. The island was close now, he could nearly smell the aroma of wild flowers drifting through the air. It was an amazing comfort to feel the end of their journey become so close…perhaps he was a bit too comfortable.

"Toothless! Don't stop!" Seeing Toothless become distracted, Hiccup watched as the wings that had begun to beat unevenly around him moments before, halted completely. "Toothless!"

They were going down, with the island only a few hundred feet from where they would hit. Toothless, being in the condition that he was in, couldn't pull up. His wings rejected the attempts he made to open them, and the water approached quickly.

A moment…that's all it took. A split second to hit the water, another to enter into its freezing darkness, and another to slip away from the only thing keeping him alive. The leather straps? Broken of course. That was usually how it went with such hard impacts. He was in the water, with no sign of his companion in sight. Hiccup knew he was done. Facts were facts, with one heavy prosthetic metal leg and only a bit of energy left at his disposal, there would be no swimming to the surface. Cold water squeezed the air from his lungs as he began to sink further into the darkness. His only thoughts were of Toothless. Where had he gone? Darkness had finally consumed him.

~~O~~O~~O~~

On shore, a vary disoriented Night Fury opened his eye ever so slightly. Nothing quite made sense to him at the moment. The aching was gone, and he was warm. Not only that, but the sun appeared to be out. In fact it was, and to his surprise it appeared to be mid-day. Had he truly be asleep hat long?

Standing to stretch, he extended his wings as far as they would go. It felt good being able to operate his wings on his own again. Looking around he found that he had been resting in the sand a few feet from the water's edge. An odd place to take up camp in his opinion. In that thought the memories of the night prior returned to him.

Where was Hiccup? It was frightening to think that he had washed ashore without his rider…his closest friend. A loud shriek echoed down the beach and through the trees, as he looked around in frantic dismay for his companion. It was true, he couldn't see Hiccup either way down the beach. For a moment his heart sank and his entire world seemed to crumble. That is until a few indentations in the sand caught his attention.

Something had been dragged through the sand nearly forty feet from where Toothless stood. It didn't appear to be too heavy, and whatever it was had dropped something. In the sand lay a ring of metal attached to half a strap of leather. It was his.

Seeing the small ring lifted his spirits. At least for a little while he could breath. Taking the strap of leather carefully in his mouth, Toothless ran off in the direction that whatever it was…hopefully Hiccup, had been dragged.


	4. Island of Uzuri

Deep in the woods on the island of Uzuri, one worried sick Night Fury looks for his rider. Meanwhile, slightly deeper in the woods, but not too far off, someone stumbles onto something odd waiting just outside their door.

"BERYL!" In the door way of a small hut stood a girl around the age of sixteen. Her short, wavy, red hair dropped just below the jaw, which at the moment, hung in disbelief. The expression her mouth created as it hung open, corresponded perfectly with her wide blue eyes. The look upon her face was that of shock. The object of her shock: a small, lanky, Terrible Terror, sitting on top of one unconscious Hiccup Horrendous Haddock III. "B-Beryl! I send you fishing and you come home with…with a…Beryl, that's not a fish! It's not even close!"

The small teal and green dragon sat scratching behind it ears, as if it had no clue what was being said to it. Truth be told, it probably wasn't listening. This was Beryl, a very "special" dragon with a mind all its own, and a curious streak that got it into more trouble than you would care to know about. Looking up at the girl it gave a few chirpy roars and tilted its head as if to ponder something.

("Again with the blank stares.") The girls name was Frankie, and besides looking terribly confused, she also appeared to have just woken up. The clothes she wore were baggy on her thin body, and looked as if they had been slept in…a lot. "Alyssa!"

"What?" A few crashes were heard, and appearing in the door next to Frankie stood yet another girl around the age of sixteen. "…"It was silent as she gave a look of 'what the…' to Beryl. "Frances…uh…who is that?" This girl's name was Alyssa. She had black hair a bit longer than that of Frankie, and constantly wore it in a loose pony-tail. However, Unlike Frankie, Alyssa wore a long, short sleeved, solid gray shirt with grown pants, and dear-skin boots. "Frances! What in the world has your dragon done this time?"

A few muffled groans escaped Hiccups lungs as he attempted to rejoin the world of the living. "Toothless…bud, what happened?" Opening his eyes, he looked around as the world began to take its appropriate form before him. "Toothless?" Instead of being greeted by the Night Fury he was accustomed to, Hiccup came face to face with Beryl. "Uh…you aren't the dragon I was hoping to see."

Appearing to be displeased by Hiccup's words, a scowl crossed Beryl's face. Planting both feet on the ground, the small dragon bobbed its body up and down as if to challenge him.

"Oh, C'mon." Hiccup rolled out of the way to avoid being fried by the little Terrors flames. "Um…" Catching a glimpse of the two girls watching him from the door way, he tiled his head. Not only was he alive, no longer in the water, and being attacked by a Terrible Terror. There were…people watching him, with the same confused expression he wore. "H-hi?"

Shaking his head Hiccup realized something. "U-uh…which way is the ocean?" Attempting to get to his feet, his heart felt torn. Where was Toothless, and was he still alive? "Toothless! Bud, where are you?" He had been ripped away from his companion after the fall, and hadn't seen his before passing out under the water. Had he drowned?

His cries were soon answered by a distant overjoyed roar, which in turn, immediately quelled the fear of loss he had been stricken with moments before. "Bud! Get your tail over here!"

Bothe Alyssa and Frankie exchanged glances as something could be heard running through the dense wall of trees. When the Night Fury appeared, Frankie ran for cover as Alyssa walked forward absolutely in love with what she saw.

Toothless gave a look of pure elation as he ran up and lightly knocked Hiccup back to the ground. Checking to be sure nothing had happened to his rider, Toothless prodded Hiccups sides, legs, and arms as if he were an overgrown parent. Finding nothing wrong he gave a deep croon of relief, before licking Hiccups face.

"I was worried about you for a second there too bud." Laughing a bit, Hiccup hadn't noticed Alyssa's approach.

"That…is by far the most awesome things I've ever seen." Alyssa stepped forward only to be stopped half way.

Seeing a stranger so close to his rider after he had gone through such an ordeal, wasn't going over too well with Toothless. Taking on a defensive position, he crouched down over the place where Hiccup lay sprawled out on the ground, baring his teeth at Alyssa as she approached.

"Hey, it' ok. I'm not gunna hurt him." Extending both hands with palms flat, Alyssa continued to approach.

"Down Toothless, she's not gunna hurt us." Slipping out from underneath Toothless, Hiccup stood up and examined him. "Bud, you're pretty scratched up." Looking over and seeing the girl still attempting to approach the two of them, Hiccup reached over, grabbed her hand, and pulled her over. "He's not gunna hurt you now, I told him you were ok." Returning to his examination, he noticed a few cuts in the seat of the leather saddle, and jutting out of one such cut there appeared to be a rock of some kind. Upon further examination, he found the rock to be a bit of Shark Coal.

The gods had been on their side after all. Had he not been knocked free of the saddle, he would have taken a deadly beating among the rocks, and had the saddle not been present, Toothless would have been thrashed as well. "Thank you oh great Oden."

It had been a full three minutes, and Alyssa still had yet to move a muscle. Both hands stood placed on Toothless's snout, causing him to look a bit cross-eyed. "N-Night Fury…I'm…I'm touching a Night Fury." A childish grin crossed her face as she continued to watch the dragon under her hands. What she had yet to realize was that standing in awe was one thing…and sending a dragon into a cross-eyed stumble was another.

"Oh! I'm sorry!" Pulling her hands back toward her slowly, Alyssa was able to correct his posture by fixing his eye position. "I completely didn't notice the cross-eyededness. Wait um…that's not even a word." It was easier for her to just quit while she was ahead, so she put her hands back behind her back. "So…what cha doin?"

"Um…I'm on a small errand to find someone living on this island." Hiccup adjusted the straps on Toothless, before starting to tie the leather connectors on his own harness together. ("I have to fix them…again.")

"What's the errand? It's kind of a small island, so there aren't many people around. Maybe I'll know the person you're looking for." There was another brief pause before a few large crashes came from the house. "What are you doing in there Fran?"

"I'm looking for my- Beryl! Put that down right now!" Running from the house through a side door, Frankie was in hot pursuit of her small dragon companion, who seemed to be carrying a small vial of water in its mouth.

Unfortunately for Beryl, it wasn't water at all.

"Beryl!" She now had him cornered between a tree and a few boulders. "Beryl, now just drop it…lightly." Her fear for the small dragons life was a valid one, for contained in the vile protruding from its mouth was a lethal venom.

Not wanting to further displease his companion, Beryl placed the vile on the ground before spreading his wings. Doing so proved to be a useless action, seeing as no matter how hard he flapped, his body never left the ground.

From behind both Toothless and Hiccup couldn't help but chuckle. "Can't he fl-" In the next instant Hiccup was on the ground being bitten and scratched by the small Terror. "H-hey!"

Seeing such an action being taken against his rider, Toothless bared his teeth again. Getting down as if he were about to go for the kill, the slits of his eyes took on their familiar cat like form in anger.

"No, Beryl! Stop that now!" Feeling as if she were talking to herself, Frankie dove in as Toothless pounced. Grabbing Beryl around the neck, she pulled him away just seconds before Toothless made contact. "Oh…ouch." Holding her scrawny companion snugly in her arms, she looked down and watched as Hiccup held his stomach.

"B-bud…" The words sounder as if they carried more air with them than sound as he spoke. "N-nev….don't…bud, I think I'll get it next time o-ok?" Rolling over, he groaned in pain from having the wind pressed out of him.

Tilting his head, Toothless gave a low croon in apology, as well as a caring nudge to help comfort his rider after landing on him as he did. He usually tried very hard to be as gentle a possible with his flimsy human counterpart, and was very sore at Beryl for causing the trouble to begin with.

"It's ok bud, I know you didn't mean it." Having gained his second wind Hiccup once again stood. "So why doesn't he fly?"

"He does so fly!" The relieved expression on Frankie's face turned to a scowl as she spoke. "He can fly, and I'll prove it!" Lifting the Terror into the air, Frankie bent her arms back.

"Fran! Not again!" Alyssa pointed to the woods, but couldn't act fast enough. She knew what was going to happen from the moment the scowl appeared on Frankie's face. "Remember last-"

Perhaps some would consider Frankie to be a bit, scrawny, or light…but she had more throwing power that a slingshot. With one swift, fluid toss, Frankie had sent Beryl flying through the air at top speed. "He's gong it!"

("She sounds so sure, and yet…") Following the movement of the small dragon through the air, Hiccup flinched as it made contact with a tree. "Oh, the gods..." If he thought he had been in pain, then he didn't want to even imagine the pain now inflicted on Beryl.

"-Time." With her hand still extended in the air, Alyssa's index finger curled under before she retracted her arm. "And you do it again…anyway."

Dropping his wings and looking on in total amazement, Toothless fell to the ground on his back and laughed in deep broken roars. It was a sight to behold as his mouth flew open with his tongue dangling out on one side. For a dragon this was as close to hysterical laughter as it got.

Hanging her head low, Frankie sighed. "He'll do it someday." Walking over to Beryl, she picked him up by the tail and placed him on her shoulder. "Beryl, you didn't even try that time, why do you always have to be so lazy, especially when you're so…" The sound of her voice faded away as she walked back into the house.

Alyssa sighed. "I wonder if she'll ever learn from her mistakes at all." Shaking her head she turned back to look at Hiccup, who was now tending to the once hysterical dragon now lying in the dirt. "So, who is it you're looking for?"

Unsure what had just occurred, Hiccup looked back with a questioning face. "Uh…no, it's ok. You probably don't know her."

"Her? I know every girl on the island." A light scowl crossed her face. "Did I mention I hate living here?"She hated life on the small uneventful island more than anything. "I mean this island is crawling with girls!"

"Ok, ok, I'm looking for a woman named Madam Kroll." Hiccup helped Toothless back to his teeth and dusted off the saddle. "She's a healer that came to my village to help a long time ago. I need her healing experience to help a friend."

Another long pause ensued, followed by the sound of Alyssa turning to walk away. "You're about eleven years too late."

Seeing that he had done something to upset her, Hiccup glanced over at Toothless before clearing his throat. "H-hey, what's wrong? What do you mean I'm too late?"

"Go home. The woman you're looking for died eleven years ago." Reaching for the handle she turned to face them. "Just go home."

"I can't go home without someone to help." Walking up behind her Hiccup looked serious.

"My mother died helping people. I don't care much for helping 'people'." Opening the door, Alyssa walked inside. "So just. Go. HOME!" The door slammed shut.


	5. Youre in charge

Was it awkward taking care of a village full of people you've never met? Yes. Though Hiccup had explained everything to her before leaving, Ember still found herself swimming in a sea of questions with no answers. Looking for any way to escape, Ember found comfort in being near Marble. Stoking the fire in the quiet hut was a dream compared to the outside world. So many things needed to be done, and not one of hiccups friends had lifted a finger to help with the repairs.

"Marble…I know you must be in a lot of pain." Looking over at the unconscious dragon beside her, Ember frowned. "It's not enough to say it in words…but I-I'm a horrible person for what I've done, and all I deserve from you is anger, but I-I'm…"

"Is this some kind of game to you?" Astrid walked through the door looking her usual 'cheerful' self. "You're acting Chief, and all you can do to help is sit here prodding a fire?"

"Astrid is it?" Looking into the flames as she stirred the thriving embers around amid the burning wood, Ember showed no sign of irritation. "Can I ask you a question?" After a few moments of silence she continued. "How long has it been since both you and Hiccup did something…romantic? Like, I don't know, couple stuff."

"I don't see how that's any of your business, OR how it's even relevant to the situation at hand." Looking more annoyed than before, Astrid folded her arms.

"But you see, it has everything to do with the situation." Placing the poker at her side, Ember looked over and patted the ground next to her. "I' you'll talk to me for a moment, I'm sure you'll get the answers to every question you want the answer to."

Seeing that refusing would only cause more discomfort for her, Astrid reluctantly and halfheartedly sat down a small distance from her. "What do you want?"

"Well. I've noticed the pull you have in your little circle of friends. My guess is, and this is just a guess. My guess is that ever since Hiccup started taking over for his dad, he's been neglecting something." Pulling her hair over one shoulder, Ember began to play with the ends of a few strands. "I'm guessing, that you miss doing stuff with him, and it's making you a tad testy. I also think that you may be oblivious to your own attitude."

The words came as a total shock to Astrid, who now fumed in anger. "W-what do you mean oblivious? Who are you to judge my attitude?" The shade of her on her face darkened as she stood up. "You think you can just come into town and act like you know everything?"

"No, I came into town looking for some desperately needed help. However…" Clearing her throat and still keeping her cool, Ember got to her feet as well. "I'm not quite as dumb as a rock, and I do know that if you're upset then Snotlout is upset, and if Snotlout's upset he picks on Fishlegs, which in turn bothers Ruffnut, because it's painfully obvious they've got some weird friendship going on, and if Ruffnut is angry, she and Tuffnut go at it like a couple of children."

What she said made sense, and Astrid's jaw hung ajar for a moment in bit of disbelief. ("She's been here for…three days! How did she memorize all the names, and notice something like that?") Correcting her bewildered look, Astrid shook her head. "You think you know so much? Well tell me this, WHY did hiccup leave the village in the hands of a stranger? Why would he leave the fate of the village on the shoulders of someone he barely knew, when I'm here for him every time he needs me? I'm his- his…"

"His girlfriend? I didn't understand at first, but after observing you over the last couple of days I now realize something. It would have been irresponsible for him to leave the village in your hands with the way you've been acting." Wanting to scream and holding it in was harder to do than Ember had ever dreamed. "He said it himself after you walked off in such a testy mood the other day. If things would have been different he said…if you had proven that you were ready to take on such a big responsibility. Then it would have been you in my position." Narrowing her eyes, she saw the thick layer of anger that surrounded Astrid fall to pieces. "But when you argue and bicker, people tend to think you aren't ready for such a big responsibility."

Thinking on that for a moment, Astrid remained quiet. It was a moment of realization for her. Hiccup was trying to teach her a lesson. A lesson she wouldn't ever have learned had he not put Ember, a stranger, in charge instead of her. She had been acting rather put out over the course of the last month, but hadn't realized how truly bad it had gotten. "You're right. He was right not to put me in charge. It's not easy to admit, but I do miss being able to hang out with him alone. We used to go for rides, and a couple of times he even tried to hunt with me. He's just been so busy lately being the acting chief that…we haven't don't anything together in a while."

A smile crept across Embers face as she stepped forward. "So, now that we've gotten everything, um…awkward out of the way. What do you say we grab something to eat?" A screech from behind quickly changed her plans. "On second thought, why don't you just grab something without me."

"Oh um…how's your wrist?" Astrid looked down at Ember's wrist with half a smirk.

"I had forgotten about it for a while. I suppose it's better than it was." Holding her arm up Ember unwound the cloth to examine her wrist. It had actually managed to get somewhat worse than when she had last seen it. "It's still hurts to move it, but I can still wok my hand so it's not too bad." Seeing as she was thinking about it the pain came through even more than it had been coming through when she was distracted.

"I'll bring you back some ice." Turning back to the door Astrid was near leaving as Marble shot up in a frantic screech. "What the…?"

"Marble, what is it?" Ember looked back to see the white Night Fury trying to back against the wall of the hut. "Marble, lay down nothings-"

He gave a raspy, gurgled roar, and showed more life and energy than he had in days. Before he had been standing for too long, his legs became weak again and he fell back to the floor still thrashing and roaring in anger.

Outside, the entire village had erupted into chaos, as dragons ran rampant in fits of fear and rage. It was like watching a flock of deer after they had become aware of a threat. They ran from homes and barns, attempting to get away from the ocean. Vikings from every corner of the Village yelled and chased after their once docile companions in confusion.

"What's going on?" Astrid ran outside looking extremely confused. Suddenly she found her Nadderhead standing before her. "What is it? What's going o-on-?" In the next instant she was being thrown onto its back. She had no time to protest before it spread its wings and lifted her away from the ground. "Ember! What's happening!"

Looking back to Marble who now was attempting to once again get to his feet, Ember turned to the sea. "It's here…" Fear coursed through her chest, and the hair on the back of her neck stood up. "Why is it here…what great coincidence of the gods is it that it would come here?"

Visions of that night in the storm flashed through her mind. The memory of a fearful dragon, a broken merchant ship, and most frightening of all, two yellow eyes belonging to a vicious killer. She knew exactly what was happening.

"Astrid!" Turning quickly Ember looked up at the now hovering figures of Astrid and her Nadderhead. "Get everyone into the woods! Get them away from here with the dragons and STAY PUT!" Screeching and shouting filled the air around her as both people and dragons rushed past.

"But what's going on?" Trying to get the dragon under her to do as it was told, Astrid caught a reprimanding scowl on Ember's face.

"Just get everyone out of here now Astrid!" Lightning her expression, Ember smiled. "I'll do my best to take care of things here. You're in charge! Hiccup would do the same thing!" Seeing a smile appear on Astrid's face they each nodded to one another before Astrid flew off over the buildings.

Hearing Astrid's shouts of leadership, Ember felt relieved when the only sound she could hear was that of Marble roaring and stumbling on the ground. She could protect him from what she knew was coming. After all it probably wasn't even after the weak Nigh Fury. It wanted something more.

Revenge.


	6. First Attack

Explosion after explosion rattled the hut in which Ember took cover. She had no idea what to do without a weapon, and the creature lingering outside grew closer as the moments passed. Pieces of wall and roof lay scattered as the explosions continued.

("I have to get Marble to a safe place, but with that THING outside I can't do anything without being seen.") Looking over at the obviously frightened and defensive Night Fury, sadness and fear crept through her mid and consumed her for a brief moment. "No…I have to protect him. I have to make sure he gets better. (After all. It is all my fault he's here.)"Looking out the mall opening of the door, Ember noticed a shop. It was a weapons shop, and where there were weapons there were usually bows and arrows. This sight sparked a glimmer of hope.

He had lost her bag in the storm, and with it her bow and arrows. This was her only means of ever defending herself. If she could just get to the Black-smiths shop, the game could begin. But how was she to make the distance?

Looking further around the door, she could see the creature that now shot streams of fire and venom into the village.

It was longer than twenty war boats, with a head as massive as a carriage, as well as being as black and merciless as the sea it had crawled from. It was indeed the spawn of darkness and the sea, making it a creature of death's design. A snake of massive proportions. The sea serpent.

Looking upon it in slight awe, Ember studied it as it stopped spewing fire. Other than being massive and completely terrifying, something was off about it. It hadn't destroyed much after all the blasting, and only a few homes were on fire. She knew all too well what had thrown off its aim.

The serpent was half blind on its left side, casing the fire balls to be (thankfully) thrown off course. It was unclear if it would continue to miss its target as it slinked forth from the sea to claim its victim.

There was an overturned cart a few feet from the door, and seeing the serpent become distracted by a few lingering sheep near the supply barn, she quickly jumped through the open space and behind the cart. It was heavy, and I took every ounce of strength she could muster up to move the large wooden cart even half way to the shop. By the time she had gotten half way, the serpent had caught on.

"Whoa!" Ember moved just in time for the cart to be smashed to pieces by the serpents tail. Running for cover, she ducked into the shop followed by the beast's monstrous snout. Her breathing was hard and fast as fear attempted to shake her core. Looking around she could only see shapes of things through the darkness.

The beast had blocked the light from the door with its massive head, making everything in the room dark. Thinking quickly for ways to move the massive creature, she was struck with an idea. The silhouette of a harpoon caught her attention.

Taking the weapon in her good hand, Ember ran forward and jabbed it into the beast's blind eye.

Instantly, the serpent recoiled with a shriek. It then fell on its side wriggling in pain, and swiping at the harpoon with its tail.

Finding the room much brighter, Ember searched frantically for the weapon she needed only to stop short. There was something else outside now, and knowing what it was made her heart sink. "Marble…" Racing to the door, she found the white Night Fury just outside of the hut, stumbling and hissing in a state of fearful rage and delirium. "Marble! Get back inside!" Looking over she could see the serpent regaining control after knocking the harpoon from its place. She turned to make one lst quick search, and then she found it.

The arrows and bow were sitting under a pile of tools almost hidden. Reaching down and grabbing a hold, Ember pulled the bow and arrows out from under the pile. She could now hear the two outside hissing and growling at one another, preparing to fight.

"No!" Running back and out the door, Ember reached them just as the serpent was ready to strike. "Stay away from my dragon beast!" Pulling an arrow out of the holder Ember positioned it with her bad hand. Her wrist hurt more than it had before, but she wasn't going to let it stop her.

Pulling back on the string with her injured hand, She released an arrow and hit the beast's nose as it craned its body to strike. "Marble get back!" Turning to push him back inside she found his claws buried in her side. "Ga-!" Her mouth clamped shut keeping the scream in.

In his delirious state, Marble had taken one last swipe at the serpent in defense. He couldn't exactly tell what he had hit through his blured vision, but it didn't feel as a big as his target, and it didn't move as his target would move. He was silent, trying to focus on what his claws had hit.

"Hey, we're even now ok?"

The words hit him as a surprise, and the voice sounded all too familiar. The girl that had been taking care of him, and the one person he had come to hate for what she had done to him, now stood with her arms wrapped around his snout. Vision clearing her could now see what was going on. The girl stood with a smile on her face, looking at him with both arms around his snout. It was odd to him. Why did she appear to be so happy with him? Any other creature would have struck him back in anger. Why not her?

"Hey, We're even now ok?" Releasing his snout and pushing him back into the hut Ember wined as his claws left her side. Looking up, she caught the look of deep thought on his face, but couldn't stay to find out what the problem was.

In moments the serpent was raging mad. ("I have to lead it away from here…") Closing the door to the hut behind her, Ember held in another cream as she fired an arrow in the air. "Hey! You want someone to fight? I'll take you're other eye beast!" Taking the remainder of the arrows and the bow in her hands, she ran down the lanes and roads of the village until she and the Serpent were clear.

She would have to run along the cliffs and water. It was only a matter of time until the serpent grew tired of slinking sluggishly on land, and returned to the sea. It wouldn't be much trouble to outrun the serpent on land, seeing as its home was the sea. But she couldn't stop leading it away until it was all the way across the island…and away from the village.

~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~

Upon their return, Astrid along with the other Vikings and their dragons, were relieved to find Berk still standing. Only a few more houses had been destroyed, and the fires had already burned themselves out. Everything was quiet before the Vikings began to cheer.

It wasn't by choice that they left the village. After all, most Vikings had natural born fighting spirit. They had all left on account of their dragons, and the choice made by the temporary acting Chief, for the temporary acting Chief, for the temporary acting Chief.

"Where's that chick that Hiccup put in charge?" Ruffnut looked over to Tuffnut and the others who all shrugged.

"She's probably back in the hut with Marble." Astrid led the rest of the villagers back into Berk before walking up to the hut. Entering she found Marble laying in the smoldering embers of the once bright fire, attempting to get warm again. She could see that the fire had been out for a while, and that bothered her. "Where is she?"

"Maybe she was eaten by whatever attacked." Snotlout and the others made their way into the room slowly. I mean she was the only one here.

"No, I believe Ember knew what she was doing. She's gone, and whatever it was in gone." Looking outside the open door, she could see a couple of arrows scattered across the ground. "These arrows belong Gobber. If she knows how to work a bow and arrow, I'd wager she's hunting down whatever it was that attacked."

"Wouldn't it be hunting her?" Fishlegs chimed in with a puzzled look on his face. "Judging by the way she's been taking care of her dragon over the last few days, she wouldn't leave him to hunt something down. If anything, whatever attacked probably chased her out of town and followed her."

"You're smart Fishlegs." Everyone turned to see Ember standing in the door way. She was breathing hard as if she had been running for a while. "But no. I led it out of town to protect Marble and the village. It shouldn't come back for a couple of days. It probably still thinks its chasing me around the island. Stupid snake."

"Snake?" Astrid looked confused. "What exactly happened here yesterday?"

Opening her mouth, Ember was about to speak when cheers could be heard coming from outside. "Huh?" Turning around, she smiled. "You guys get to the docks, I have to get Marble fire going again."

Hiccup was back…with a few friends.


	7. Secret

Being the only one to ACTUALLY see the serpent face to face presented a few problems. Problem one, was that Ember had to draw out and describe what had attacked the village. Problem two…she couldn't draw, and she was no good at charades.

"Is it a worm?" Frankie looked down at the horrible drawing in the sand as the others around her started to laugh.

"No I think it's a rope with a weight on the end." Hiccup tilted his head and squinted. "Or it could be a one eyed lizard." That was the closest guess anyone had come up with so far.

Sinking into embarrassment, Ember tossed the stick away from her. "I'm doing my best here guys." Observing her own drawing, everything made sense. There was the one eye, the head and the long body. "It's clearly a giant snake."

"I'll take your word for it." Astrid chuckled looking over to Hiccup. "so what do we do with the…um…" Unable to keep herself calm, she erupted into a fit of laughter and fell over. "W-what are we going to do about this?" pointing to the drawing her laughter intensified.

Walking over Frankie and Alyssa patted Ember on the shoulder.

"Well, not everyone can draw something as complicated as a serpent." Alyssa looked on at the drawing in slight disbelief. ("Who can't draw a simple snake?")

With that said, Frankie stepped forward and grabbed the stick. "Did it look like this?" In a few quick seconds, she had drawn a perfect picture of a one eyed sea serpent. "It's basically a large black snake with yellow eyes and a bad attitude." Seeing Beryl walk up to her she smiled. "It looks like Hoper doesn't in Beryl?"

Sitting and observing Frankie's picture, Beryl narrowed his eyes. In a few moments the small Terror seemed to grin.

"Beryl, no." Seeing what was coming, Fran glared down at him. "Beryl!"

At hearing her voice sound so stern, he closed his eyes, turned tail, and trotted away.

Looking down and comparing the two drawings, Ember sank lower into her embarrassed state. After seeing Frankie's drawing, hers now confused even her. ("Is it a worm?") Shaking her head she sighed. "Yes Fran, is looked like that."

"Fran?" Frankie looked up in shock. "No one's called me that since…well no one's ever called me that." A wide grin crossed her face. "I kind of would rather be called Frankie or Frances if you wouldn't mind."

No time was wasted as Ember looked Frankie in the eye and poke honestly. "I do. What? Do you think I'm going to run around yelling Frankie all day? Why say something long and complicated when I could just call you Fran?"

"Well I…you said that so bluntly…(long and complicated?)" Shrugging Fran tossed the stick aside and examined her work. "So, one of you has pissed off a sea serpent?"

"Not just any sea serpent, a class five sea serpent." Appearing to be deep in thought, Alyssa examined the picture. "If it's as big as Ember claims it is, then what you're looking at is an adult male serpent." Turning to Hiccup Alyssa glared. "If I get killed by a sea serpent after being brought here AGAINST my will, so help me gods I will smite you from the afterlife."

"So Alyssa, what do you say we let them talk this over so we can go see Marble." Finally having someone to take care of Marble was an answer to her prayers, and she couldn't have been happier to see Alyssa. "Please come see him."

Though she didn't really want to be in Berk at all, Alyssa still couldn't resist helping a dragon in need. Especially if that dragon were a Night Fury. "Fine, I'll take a look at him."

"Oh, thank you!" Grabbing Alyssa's shirt sleeve, Ember pulled her off toward the hut, and they were there in what seemed like the blink of an eye. "He's right in here." Pushing the door open, she led the way into the small dark room where Marble lay curled around a fire. "He's still really sick, and can't really do anything. Though, I suppose he was more active when the serpent was around." Holding her side she smiled. "I guess you could say he and I got even."

"Even for poisoning him?" Even with just a mere glimpse, Alyssa knew what was wrong with him. "He's sick yes…but I don't think you found him like this."

Ember knew she'd been caught, and gazing into the fire the memory of what really happened played through her mind, as it had been for days. "I felt bad about it…I still do feel bad about it. I've loved hunting ever since I was a girl, but I never…I never liked hunting dragons." Picking the poker up Ember stirred the ashes. "I was out on a routine hunting trip. It was just me and the wolf I'd been tracking for days…or that's what I thought anyway. I was ready to take it, but as I took the shot it ran off. I didn't realize that I had hit anything until the snow turned red. I hit him with a poison arrow. My village uses poison to kill the animals we don't intend to eat." Kneeling down, she patted the top of Marble's head. "I tried to help him, but at first he resisted. I was finally able to trick him into getting on cart, and then a ship. It was a miracle of the gods...and after our boat was destroyed, it was another miracle that we landed in the right place, and were found by the right people." Looking over at Marble she closed her eyes. "I only pray for one last miracle. After all this is my fault."

"Why wouldn't you say anything?" Alyssa's tone was that of both anger and disappointment. "If poison was the culprit, you could have just gone to a medicine expert in your village for a cure."

"Yeah well, my village isn't very friendly when it comes to dragons." Ember sat down and looked into the fire. "I hate my village for the things they do to dragons, and I've been trying to stop them." The pony tail behind her back fell forward and dangled into her lap. "I'm not going to give up until they don't hurt dragons anymore…"

"Well you're off to a good start." The heavy sarcasm in Alyssa's voice was harsh. "You'll be the one giving him the medicine. I'm not risking my hand because of your mistake."

"Sounds like a good enough deal." Looking to Marble, Ember sighed. "Just…call me down when you've fished making the antidote." A tear escaped her eye as she ascended the stair case.

Looking back to Marble, Alyssa backed away seeing his eyes open and focused on her. "U-uh…" Catching the angered look in his eye, she was taken by surprise.

His eyes were narrow as he looked back and forth between the stairs and Alyssa. He couldn't speak, but what he was trying to say came across loud and clear. He didn't appreciate what she had sad to his soul bound companion. He didn't appreciate what had been said…

…to his rider.


	8. The Truth Unleashed

Lies are one thing when they get you out of trouble. They are something entirely different when they cause problems for others.

This was an unavoidable and ugly truth, and Ember knew what had to be done. She didn't care much for the way things were, and sitting up in her temporary room, she decided one thing. It would be no time at all before everyone began to piece things together. Her problem, was how to tell them before they figured it out, AND how to fix the problems she had caused.

("I suppose the truth had to come out eventually.") Closing her eyes Ember's every thought was consumed by guilt and remorse. "I've put everyone in this village at risk by coming here. On the other hand, it WAS an incident of misfortune that I and the serpent crossed paths. It was unforeseeable that the serpent would hunt me down for vengeance. I REALLY don't want to be a snakes lunch, and I definitely don't want to get anyone (including myself) killed!" Telling the group what was going on was going to be hard, but keeping the secret would be even harder.

"Damn sea serpent! Such a vengeful, greedy creature!" In her anger, Ember kicked the leg of the bed. "Father…Mother…sister…OUCH!" Buckling over and falling onto the bed, she looked out the window.

The rest of the group (minus Alyssa), still stood talking and sorting things out on the beach. They had no idea what was truly happening, and all Ember could think was that she was to blame for most of it.

With a deep breath, she got to her feet on the bed, jumped to the window, and slid down the inclined roof. Finding herself once again on the streets of Berk, she made her ways down to the water. It was a slow walk for her, because as she walked ideas of how to approach them played in her mind.

Before too long she had reached the beach, where Frankie was having a rather unusual battle with Beryl.

"Stop that!" Frankie ran after the small Terror with arms wide spread. "You little monster! You bring that back right now!"

Running as fast as his small legs could carry him, Beryl sped across the sand holding a flat glass object in his mouth. It appeared to be nothing more than a shattered piece of broken glass, but upon looking closer it could be determined that there was indeed something carved in the glass.

The object in question was a glass slab containing the picture of hopper Frankie had drawn earlier. Seeing as Beryl didn't seem to care too much for his companions like of other dragons, he took it upon himself to steel it by whatever means necessary.

Having something she was so proud of be stolen bothered her to no end, and as she ran, Frankie also began to ponder one thing. "Where did you learn to blow glass?"

The entire sight seemed to amuse Toothless and the others, and it was hard for such amusement to be kept inside. Eyeing Beryl as he approached, Toothless crouched.

"Toothless." Hiccup looked over at his rowdy companion with a daring face. Knowing what would happen if he didn't intervene, he grabbed Toothless by the saddle and held him back. Though he knew his grip couldn't stop him, Hiccup was well aware of the fact that Toothless wouldn't jump if he held on, for fear of hurting his rider. It was a fact he didn't like to hold against him, but at the moment it seemed necessary.

Knowing he couldn't jump away, Toothless watched the scrawny dragon race toward him. It was too much to take, and Beryl presented such a great target. Knowing he would be close, Toothless concocted a sinister backup plan.

"Toothless, what are you…" Catching the hint of amusement sparking on the dragons face, Hiccup had no idea what to think. "B-Beryl…um…I don't think you should get so close."

Ignoring the warning, Beryl raced by, coming far too close to Toothless in the process. In a matter of seconds it was over.

With one mighty swat, Toothless slammed his tail fins directly on top of Beryl, smashing the minuscule Terror into the sand. A large grumbled chuckle echoed though his throat, and immediately sent his tail wagging, burying Beryl even deeper in the sand.

"BERYL!" Falling to her knees, Fran looked on as her dragon was pilfered into the ground. Her arm stood stretched out, and her hand wide open, as if to attempt to stop the small dragon from disappearing into the sand with some unseen force. "Why is no one helping him?"

Unable to control the impulse, Ember grabbed Toothless' tale and held it up. It was hard not to feel a slight tinge of pity for the strange, awkward Terror which stumbled away from the crater in the ground beneath the massive tale.

Watching him stumble off alone, Ember turned back to the crowed. "Um…I'm gone for five minutes and this happens?"

"Um…" Standing up and wiping her hand off, Frankie chuckled feeling embarrassed. "He's um…a hardy little fighter. He'll, um…he'll be ok I think."

("Why does she not sound sure at all?") Shaking her head and trying to clear her mind of the moments prior, Ember spoke holding her hands behind her back. "You should all know, I have something very important to tell you."

The group was quiet, not quite knowing what to do about what had just happened. It had been all fun and games until Beryl attempted to destroy the drawing of Hopper (another Terror). Now, with Ember standing at such attention, looking as if she had something truly important to say, no one had a clue what was going on.

Frankie raised her hand. "Can I call a five minute break for those of us who have trouble keeping up?"

"No."

"But."

"No buts. Just pay attention to what I have to say" Clearing her thought, Ember spoke up after a moment of silence had gone by. "What I need to tell you is hard for me to say…what you have to know is that I never meant to hurt anyone, and it is ALL my fault."

The group looked both puzzled and intrigued by the event which was now taking place. It was as quiet as it had ever been, and no one even noticed Beryl flying from rock to rock in the back ground.

Turning Fran caught sight of Beryl as he landed on a rock. ("Poor little guy. He's trying too hard to fly, but he just can't…maybe he'll do it someday. At least he's not hurt from earlier.") Turning back to Ember Fran stood waiting to hear what was about to be said.

"I'm the reason Marble's so sick." The slight gasp coming from both Hiccup and Astrid didn't surprise her, but she couldn't stop. It had to ALL be straightened out. "I shot him with a poison arrow, but I didn't see him. Long story short, I got word of a boy on an island of dragons. I brought him here on a merchant ship." Her arms started to wave around s if to illustrate the story. "The waves got so high that the ship was nearly turned over, but before it could capsize, we were attacked by a sea monster! At first we thought it was some kind of squid, but then it crawled on board and started to devour the entire crew. I managed to get Marble and myself to a boat, but before we were out of sight, it saw our boat." The waving of her arms intensified as the story went on. It crushed out boat into two pieces. I was only able to get rid of it by shooing it in the eye with a bow and arrow. The boat stayed on its end after that and he water still nearly drowned us…but by a miracle we landed here. I had no intention of lying to you about his sickness, but I-I saw how much this place loved dragons, and I feared being shunned for hurting one so badly! Please forgive me!" Feeling slightly winded, Ember fall over and now lay in the sand.

The entire group felt blown away, and all but one were left speechless.

Feeling slightly ticked, Astrid marched forward. "You mean you knew that thing was out there?" She pulled Ember in close with eyes blazing in anger. "You knew and you didn't tell us?"

"I didn't think it would follow me!" Ember winced feeling the rejection beginning. ("She's so going to kill me in front of all these witnesses.")

"Well serpents are vengeful creatures." Frankie was now deep in thought. "If you blinded it, that can only mean one thing…"

Ember knew what was coming next. She had figured it out far before anyone had even known about the serpent. "I know…"

"…It's after me."


	9. I Have a Plan

"It's a known fact that Serpents are very aggressive and vengeful creatures." Alyssa sat mixing something vial at a table in the corner of the room. "The stories about serpents sinking ships go back as far as the dawn on man. Unfortunately, the vengeance of these particular creatures isn't very well known…most likely because no one's ever lived long enough to figure out they were being hunted."

This thought sent a chill down Embers spine. "Wait, then it's not going to leave me alone? Ever?"

"Well, seeing as it tracked you all the way here, and then attacked the village, I'd say no. The only way you're getting away from anything is if you fly out of here. Then again, if you fly it could still follow you." As she finished the batch of medication for Marble, Alyssa poured it into a fishes mouth and held it out to Ember. "And if you can't get away, then there's only two options left to you."

"Two?" Taking the fish from Alyssa, Ember walked over and crouched down next to Marble. Seeing him sleep so soundly gave her a bad feeling about waking him to a fish full of medicine. However, at this point she would have shoved the fish down his throat to make him well again. "And what might those choices be?" Extending one hand, she propped open his mouth and placed the fish inside.

"Well choice A, would be that you somehow kill the serpent. Without destroying the environment of course." Finding the sight of Ember trying to force feed the fish to a sleeping dragon entertaining, Alyssa cracked a bit of a smile. "Of course, choice B would involve you getting eaten and the village being saved." A wide grin crossed Alyssa's face.

"Why does that make you smile?" Hiccup sat across the room with Toothless sprawled out by the fire. "I mean it's not like we can just let her get eaten. We're Vikings, we're not into the whole human sacrifice thing." Catching Alyssa's quick glimpse at his leg, he retaliated. "That's because of something WAY different."

"What I don't understand, is that if the serpent is after her, why is Ember still alive?" Fishlegs question was well founded but didn't find its answer where he had expected to.

"Ember ran away screaming like a little girl after she led if to the other side of the woods." Frankie turned to Ember with Beryl in her lap and a smile on her face. "Didn't you Ember."

"Hey! You ever been chased by something ten times your size and trying to blast you with fire?" Seeing Marble finally taste the medicine, Ember did her best to hold his mouth shut as he thrashed in disapproval.

Both Hiccup and Toothless glanced in a rather 'matter of fact' kind of way.

Catching their reaction Ember groaned. "You two don't count!"

"She's right, she was without a dragon, and she did ONLY lead it away." Frankie looked to the floor as Beryl rolled around and bugged Toothless. "I mean she didn't kill it."

"Uh…thanks?" Not quite sure whether to take her words as a compliment, Ember shook her head and sighed.

Marbles fit of discomfort and disapproval ended, and nearly immediately his eyes opened and his energy perked up. Other than the odd taste in his mouth he felt fine, and looking up at Ember he gave a thankful croon.

"Um…you're welcome…" She hadn't noticed the subtle differences in his attitude until now, and thinking them over she pondered what might be going on in Marble's head. "So…" Trying to pull her attention away from the now healthy looking Night Fury, she continued to speak. "I don't like option B, so how do we accomplish option A?"

"Well I'm not the one to come up with plans, and I said when I came here that I wouldn't help any of you islanders. So if you're asking me, you're on your own." Turning to Fran Alyssa held out her hand. "Where is it?"

"Alyssa, you left every cent we had in the hut back on Uzuri. I couldn't afford to get you any juice. Water will just have to do for now." Looking around the room Frankie turned red. "What? I do the shopping and I say we can't afford it."

"…What are you talking about?" Ruffnut stood with one hand on her brother's shoulder about to push him over. "I was barely paying attention, but even I know you're talking about something off topic."

Other than the confused croons from the dragons in the room, the majority of the group was silent. No one could quite guess how Frankie had gotten so off topic, and remembering that Alyssa had initiated the subject change, everyone turned and looked at her.

"Ok…we were talking about me being hunted and possibly killed by a sea serpent…and now you're talking about juice?" Ember sat a bit away from Marble forgetting the strange attitude he had taken toward her. "I need help not flavored water!"

"Sorry, it's my fault the subject changed. She usually has my juice waiting for me after I mix potions and medication." A blush engulfed Alyssa's face as she rubbed the back of her head. "It's kind of like my reward for working."

("Ok, um…how old are you?") Shaking her head, Ember started to attempt to get everyone back on track. "Wait, so what am I going to do about the sea serpent?"

"I suppose you could always kill the sea serpent." Frankie looked over from her Place next to Alyssa. "However, that would pose a problem, seeing as no one has ever successfully killed one." Thinking hard, her mind conjured up the perfect plan.

"Yes, you could kill it." Fishlegs jumped into the conversation wielding his vast knowledge. "But if you killed it with an axe or a spear, you would contaminate the environment with its toxic blood."

"That's true, but if we had a weapon that could kill it without spilling too much blood, there would be no risk of pollution." Fran looked over at Fishlegs trying to sound knowledgeable. "Plus there's the armor problem. Small weapon can't pierce the armored scales that cover the serpent's body. You would have to have something strong enough to get through…Maybe something super sharp could do the trick…that's it!"

"What's it?" Astrid could see the look of inspiration on Frankie's face, and couldn't help but feel that something less than helpful was about to burst out of her mouth.

"I have a plan." Frankie rubbed her hands together in a scheming fashion and smiled. "Here's the plan. We get the serpent into a cove, a small cove with super deep water would be best. Then, after it enters the cove we harpoon it like whale on all sides…we would need rope or strong chain."

"We have a lot of chain in the shop." Hiccup smiled not quite following, but still trying to be as helpful as he could under the circumstances. "I can get you as much as you think you'll need."

"No, it can't just be any old chain. It has to be made to withstand extreme force" Fran looked puzzled again. "After we get it into whatever cove we can find, we have to be able to chain it up somehow. So maybe smaller rings could help with the strength and flexibility of the overall chain. However, that still leaves the problem of how we get the chain to stay in place, and how we get them around the serpent without putting ourselves in danger."

"Well, perhaps you could use arrows." Ember now sat closer to Frankie than she had before, and listened intently. "Maybe we don't have to get the chain around the serpent…maybe we could shoot the chain into its scales with super sharp cling arrows."

"Cling arrows?" Tuffnut tilted his head and looked at Ember with a strange face.

"They're arrow's I designed myself." Ember smiled proud of herself. "I have a lot of time alone back where I come from. I like to take that time to invent new types of arrows for hunting and trapping. Cling arrows are simply arrows with prongs at the end to keep them from slipping out."

"If we attach a strong chain to the end of the arrows, and shoot them into the Serpent, we could keep the serpent where we wanted it." Frankie looked exceedingly happy with her plan. "Only one problem." Her smile faded to a frown.

"Oh? And what problem would that be?" Ember seemed surprised by Frankie's sudden deflation.

"Well Problem one would be that we don't have a cove, and we can't carry out the plan here." Folding her arms together, Frankie looked around the room. "Problem two is that even if we could get chain light enough to shoot at the dragon, who other than Ember, is able of accurately shooting a bow and arrow?"

"True, with my wrist as damaged as it is, I can't shoot an arrow to save my life." Lifting her arm, Ember examined the now slightly swollen red ring around her wrist. "Oh…and I guess another problem would be…how do we secure the serpent once the chains are in place? I mean don't get me wrong, we are a force to be reckoned with. I mean with the muscle and upper body strength, no one would dare doubt our skill." Looking from person to person, she could see the scrawny features she had so inaccurately referred to. "But even with all of that, we still can't hold a sea serpent."

"True. But what if we had a large rock or something? Or we could attach the chain to a tree maybe?" The brilliance and quick thinking Hiccup was known for was once again being put to use.

"You're brilliant Hiccup. Now all we need is a location and bait." Alyssa smiled getting on board with the plan at last. "And I know who would make perfect bait."

Without even a word spoken, everyone in the room turned to Ember with an evil plotting grin.

"How did I not see this conversation ending like this?" Ember would have been worried had a few disapproving growls not echoed past her from behind. ("Marble?")

Curling his tail around in front of Ember, Marbles eye slits narrowed as he growled defensively. No one was going to touch his rider, or use her for such a dangerous task.

No one was going to put Ember in harm's way as long as he had something to say about it.


	10. denial

PLEASE R&R! HOPE THIS CHPTER IS GOOD.

"Well bye Fran." Ember sat outside the house, waving as both Fran and Beryl were forced onto a horse just down the road. "I'm sure you'll be fine!"

"Frankie, just get on the horse and get going!" Alyssa had a hold on Frankie's arm, and tried desperately to keep her from getting away. "What did I tell you before? You aren't going to die, I promise you that!"

"Since when did I volunteer for this job?" Unlike Alyssa, Frankie tried desperately to get away from the group of people trying to keep her on the horse.

"Since you're the one who came up with the plan! Hiccup could see that they were getting nowhere fast, and now did his best to reason with her. "You're the one with the plan, and now you have to find a place for us to pull it off."

"Hiccup and I have to stay here to oversee the re-building of the village before Stoic gets back, and the others have to lead the dragons in their squads to speed up the re-construction." Astrid folded her arms as Frankie settled down on the back of the horse and looked over at them.

The look on Frankie's face wasn't that of anger, it was more of a look of 'why me?'. "C'mon~ can't you find someone else for this job?" Glancing up she caught sight of Ember sitting beside the door of the hut. "What about you! After all it is your butt we're trying to save!"

"Well you see I would go with you, but if the Serpent sees me I'm as good as dead." Ember looked serious as she spoke. "Seeing as it had no grudge against you, it most likely won't attack you unless you get to close."

"The part of that sentence I don't like is MOST LIKELY." Grabbing the reigns, Frankie couldn't help but feel defeated. "Well, as long as I have Beryl with me I should be fine."

("Does she not know by now that Beryl almost always ruins a good plan?") Sighing Alyssa nodded her head. "Yes, well if you do find the right place, come back and tell us right away. The longer we wait to kill a Sea Serpent, the more likely it will be to attack the village again."

"Fine…well, I'll be back as soon as I find the right place, but you ALL better get to work on the thing's we'll need to pull this off." With that, Frankie was off running with Beryl riding between her arms.

Watching Frankie disappear down a path in the woods, Alyssa was about to turn down the street when she heard someone from behind call her name. Turning she could see Ember walking down the lane toward her. "Ember? What is it? If this is about Marble, I told you it would take a while for him to be completely back to normal."

"No, it's not about that." The words came from Ember's mouth as if to set up a question.

"No? Then what is it?" Alyssa could see that something was bothering her, but couldn't quite tell what it was. "What's on your mind?"

There was a long pause as Ember looked back to the hut. After a moment she took Alyssa by the hand and led her down the lane. Not a word was spoken until she was certain they were out of Marbles range of hearing.

"Ember, what's this all about?" Pulling her hand Away, Alyssa studied her for a moment. "They way you act, it's like you're guilty of a crime or have some big secret."

"No, no, nothing like that." Ember sighed before leaning against a wall near the docks. "It's about Marble. He' been acting so strange over the past few days. I don't know if it' just the medication, but something about the way he acts toward me is really different."

"Different how?" The new subject struck Alyssa as interesting, and for a moment she allowed her curiosity to take over.

"Well, when I first met him after the accident in the forest, he would have taken any opportunity to strike me down where I stood. Now…I don't know. He acts like he's trying to defend me, and it seems kind of sudden and unexplainable." Looking to Alyssa, she found her in a state of hard thinking. Can you think of any reason the medicine would be doing this to him?"

"I don't think it's the medication that's making him act like this." With a smile on her face, Alyssa turned around and began to pace.

"Then what's making him act so defensive over me?" Not understanding the look deep thought on Alyssa's face Ember grew impatient. "Is he ok, or isn't he?"

"Well have you done anything for him? Anything in the extreme?" Alyssa smiled. "Those slashes on your side hat Astrid had to fix up. How did you get them?"

"Well it wasn't anything big…I mean I just pushed him back inside to keep him from being blasted." Ember picked up her shirt and examined the bandaged area. Touching it she cringed. "It was no big deal that he clawed me, I didn't even get mad."

"That's it." Alyssa grined a wide triumphant smile. "You didn't get mad. He hurt you, and could have killed you. But you showed no fear and in doing so you established a bond."

"A bond? Wait, then why in the story that Hiccup told me did he have to go through so much to get close to Toothless?" Ember lowered her shirt and slumped over against the wall. "Ugh~ this makes no sense~."

"Well, You've gone through a lot too if you think about it." Alyssa crouched down and got face to face with Ember whom was now sitting with her back against the wall beside the docks. "I mean you went through all that you did to get him here, defended you both from the serpent at sea, AND you defended him while you were being attacked here. Face it, now you two are bonded as dragon and rider."

"Wait, wait, wait, you're telling me that because I did what was right he thinks I'm his rider?" Something about this whole thing sounded wrong. "I can't just….I mean he's got a family somewhere to get back to doesn't he?"

"Well perhaps he does, but if he's found the bond with you there's nothing that can break it." Alyssa turned to walk away with a contented grin stretched across her face. "I'd suggest getting used to a dragon being by your side for what will probably be the rest of your life."

Ember's jaw hung low in disbelief. ("How am I supposed to just accept something like that?") Shaking her head she looked up the path to the hut where Marble lay asleep. ("I mean…what about his family?")

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

"Marble?" It had been a few hours since Ember had been back to the hut, and much to her surprise Marble had vanished. "Oh no, I lost a dragon?" Holding her face in her hand she turned to leave. "Marble! Where did you go?"

Seeing that he had successfully gotten out of the hut and far from the village, Marble now enjoyed the sun's rays as they warmed him. He had been extra careful to avoid being seen by any of the town people (especially Ember). However, had he been paying attention he would have noticed a certain black Night Fury and Viking trailing silently after him.

It was an especially clear day, and having found an open area Marble stretched out in a sunny spot to nap. He hadn't been lying down for more than thirty minutes before sensing something coming up behind him. Feeling his solitude had been interrupted, Marble lifted his head to look back.

"You know she'll be looking for you soon." Hiccup climbed off of Toothless and walked by his side into the clearing. "After all, she's been so diligent in taking care of you that there's no way she won't notice you're gone."

Tilting his head, Hiccup seemed to think of something. "You must really think a lot of Ember if you're willing to protect her like you did yesterday."

Hearing Ember's name sparked the memory of the defensive stance he had taken for her the night prior, Marble scoffed and looked away, sprawling out even further to exaggerate his lazy, un-caring attitude. As far as he was concerned, he cared about no one other than his own kind. The incident the boy was most likely referring to was obviously an accident or misunderstanding. It couldn't be possible that he REALLY cared for a human, especially one who had caused him so much grief. There had to be some way to deny the bond forming between them, but what it was he didn't know.

As Toothless sprawled himself out in the sun next to Marble, Hiccup sat down and leaned against his dark warm scales. Realizing Marble wouldn't come around on his own, an idea hatched in his mind. "Eh, maybe you're right."

Even with a dragon's minimal understanding of human words and phrases, Marble could still understand enough to piece thing together. One thing he definitely understood was being right.

Seeing that he now had Marble's attention, Hiccup smiled. "I mean she's the one who made you sick, so who cares right? I mean maybe it was the medicine that made you care so much. After all, she's only braved storms, fought off a Sea Serpent, and risked getting eaten."

Knowing what Hiccup was attempting, Marble couldn't fight back. The human boy was right. Ember had risked a lot when she didn't have to, but there was no way Marble was ever going to admit to his forming bond with a human. Humans had been the ones to hunt his family for generations, and humans were the reason he could never fly freely wherever he wanted to.

~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~O~

"Marble!" Ember had made her way nearly five miles into the densest part of the forest looking for Marble. As she walked she could sense something around her becoming closer. ("Something's coming…I have to get out of sight.") Thinking fast she could see a branch just beyond her reach. Reaching for it she quickly gave up seeing that it was too far out of her reach. ("Uh…P-plan B!") Finding an opening beneath a tree, she quickly ducked into it.

A minute passed, and then another minute passed. Soon she had been waiting for five minutes without seeing a thing. ("I was sure there was something coming…but where is it?") Crawling half way out of the opening she looked around.

Things were silent…what had she sensed?


	11. Growing closer

("What was it that I sensed earlier? I don't understand it, I'm usually so dead on to these kinds of things.") Standing out in the open, Ember looked around trying to peer through the dense cluster of trees and brush surrounding her. The presence still lingered, but appeared to be further off than it had been. Choosing to deny he better judgment, she closed her eyes and walked off in the direction of the disturbance.

After walking for what seemed like hours, she could feel the uneasy sensation growing. However, this time she was the one following it. ("Where is it, and how did it get in front of me without me seeing it?") She was stopped mid stride as the sensation grew to an uncomfortable level. Something was close, but as the sun began to sink she could see nothing. ("it's like I'm standing right on top of something…but where the hell is it?") With that thought, Ember's feet fell from under her. "Oh my-!"

Flailing her arms around above her head, she managed to grab onto the root of a nearby tree. Dangling just below the ledge, Ember looked down at what would have been her fate had she not latched onto the tree. Nothing but cliff and sand lay below her, and with a fall that far, she would have been flat in no time.

After overcoming the initial shock of nearly falling to her death Ember realized something that slightly irritated her. Looking up, she could see that she had grabbed onto the root with her bad hand. The problem was that it didn't hurt like it should, an as she hung suspended next to the cliff there came a snapping sound.

The pain finally caught up to her.

"Gah!" Reflexively unlatching her hand, Ember began to fall when something above her latched onto her arm. "Huh?"

"Are you an idiot?" Frankie Stood trying to pull Ember back onto the ledge. "I could have sworn you were supposed to say n the village! Isn't that why I'm out here…instead of…" With one massive heave, she had Ember over the edge and back in the trees. "You!"

Holding her mouth shut with tears forming in her eyes, Ember began to wine while nodding her head.

"Uh, you ok?" Lifting one eyebrow in curiosity, Frankie examined Ember's expression and actions. It became apparent what the problem was after a few moment of looking her over. "You messed around and now your injured wrist is broken. ISNT IT."

Biting her lip, Ember forced a shallow breath and a low groan. "Uh huh…" Her wrist throbbed as the pain began to subside. "I think I broke it."

"Well you don't have to cry about it." Frankie cracked half a smile trying not to look too amused. "I broke my arm once, and I barely felt anything."

"I'm not crying, I'm just…I have a low tolerance for pain." Holding her wrist with the opposite hand, Ember shook her head and sucked it up. "I get bitten by wolves and stuff all the time back home, I've just never broken anything."

"Well, it doesn't look to bad. Then again Alyssa or one of your other friends might need to look at it to be sure." Seeing that Ember had managed to regain control of her emotions and the pain, Frankie looked back out of the trees and down the cliff. "Now, if you're done blubbering over your wrist, I want you to see where we'll be executing my Mater plan."

"Now it's a MASTER plan?"Seeing that Frankie had her back turned, Ember rolled her eyes with a slight 'as if' look on her face.

"Yes it is. Beryl and I had the whole discussion on the way here." Pulling Ember over to the edge of the tree line, Frankie smiled pulling a few branches out of the way. "Seeing as I'm the master of the plan, it's a master plan."

("If you say so…") Peaking out of the opening in the trees, Ember looked out over what appeared to be a small bay.

"It's got everything we need, and a few advantages that should come in handy." Frankie began to explain her plan in detail. "It looked like it should be at least two hundred feet from the top of the cliffs to the water. The walls are curved in to where there is only a slight opening in the wall just at the end of the bay."

Looking around at the cage like bay, Ember tried to imagine the plan unfolding. The cliffs were even and consisted of sheer rock walls that encompassed the small bay. At the far end of the bay there stood an opening as long as one small boat. The water coming in swirled into a small whirlpool in the center of the bay, and the water surrounding it looked black as pitch. On the other hand, the water surrounding the whirl pool gradually got lighter as it approached the cliff walls and the small beach directly below where the two girls stood.

"You see, we'll have the arrows made to pierce the scaly hide of the serpent, and once we have it "hooked" on all sides, we'll attach the chains to hooks we'll have hammered into the rock wall. After we have it hooked and it can't get away, the dragons will fly over with the net and drop it over the serpents head. After we have it hooked and netted it should be fairly weak. The only thing left to do would be to pull it onto the shore and burn it once it stops struggling!" The entire plan went down perfectly in Frankie's head as she smiled admiring her own brilliance. "And you don't even have to get it here, because it lives in the whirl pool down there.

"Wait, it lives in a swirling vortex of rapidly rushing water?" Trying to figure out how something could survive in such conditions, Ember shook her head. "How do you know it lives there? Did you see it?"

"Yeah, I saw it. If came out of the trees a little before you did. Only it came out from the tops of the trees." Frankie found it a bit concerning when Ember's eyes widened in a bit of shock. "You ok there?"

"I had sensed something following me in the woods earlier…I hid, and didn't see anything for a long time. When I came out of hiding, the thing that I had sensed was in front of me and I followed to see what it might have been." Holding her injured hand at her side, Ember reflected on the actions she had taken in the forest. Her first instinct had told her to hide in the tree. Had she listened and been able to get into the tree, she would have been killed. Instead she had hidden under a tree. The god's were sending a pretty good streak of luck her way. "Opicempu…" Kneeling she closed her eyes and spoke inaudibly in a foreign tongue.

"O pie what now?" Frankie tilted her head looking as confused as she'd ever been.

"Opicempu. It means "to thank the gods for their good works"." Ember stood up with a smile stretched across her face. "Well we better get back to the village. I have to have Hiccup or Astrid look at my wrist."

"Nope. We can't go anywhere." Suddenly Frankie flushed an embarrassed bright red.

"Oh? And why can't we?" Now Ember was the one confused.

"Well, one, the sun is setting and it's going to get really dark out here soon…and two…_Beryl, ran off with my horse."_

"WHAT? You mean we have to spend the night next to the den of the ONE CREATURE ON EARTH that is out to kill me?" With her one good hand, Ember pulled Frankie uncomfortably close. "FRAN…!"

"Hey! It's not my fault you wandered out here on your own and hurt your hand. AGAIN!" Grabbing Ember by the collar of her shirt, Frankie was ready to go at it.

"Yeah well-!" A sudden splash from below startled Ember and caused her to release Frankie from her iron grip. Looking down, Ember could see the serpent rising from the water toward the trees. "Frankie run!" Tying to keep as silent as she could, Ember pulled Frankie toward the thickest cluster of trees she could find.

Making her way silently beside her, Frankie also pulled Ember toward the same cluster of trees. "Stop pulling me!" She hissed under her breath.

"You stop pulling me!" Ember hissed back glaring over at Frankie as the two of them climbed inside of a thick crop of pine trees.

"You first!" The whispers were now the only thing able to be heard, and as Frankie went to speak again, she found Ember pulling her down and pressing her to the forest floor with her bad hand over her mouth. "MMM!"

Releasing her grip on Frankie, Ember gestured for her to be quiet. Pointing up she released her all together and pressed her body against the dark wood of the pine tree.

Looking up, Frankie saw the reason for Embers behavior. Pressing against a different tree, she tried to keep silent.

Hanging just above the two of them was the massive head of a sea serpent.

After a few moments of sniffing the air, the massive snake disappeared into the darkness of the tree tops.

It was quiet for nearly an hour after the encounter, and the only thing to break the silence was Beryl as he trounced in between the two girls.

"B-Beryl, you almost gave me a heart attack!" Grabbing the small dragon by its tail and lifting him into the air Frankie sighed. "Well at least you came back."

Cowering in the corner, Ember had nearly lost it.

"You ok over there?" Frankie didn't sound as if she were messing around, and her tone depicted concern.

"Yes. I'm fine." Trying to shake off the experience Ember closed her eyes and thought of the one thing that made her happy. Nearly a minute passed before she opened her eyes. "Yes Fran, I'll be ok." This time she honestly meant it.

"Well, we can't have a fire tonight, so it's going to be pretty cold, and we'll have to get going as soon as day breaks." Shifting her position closer to Ember Frankie smiled. "This reminds me of the time Alyssa accidentally tripped into a well. I jumped in after her, and we sat in the dark for three days before water day came around. It wasn't as bad as you might think though. It's how she and I became such good friends."

The rest of the night went by slowly as the weather turned to rain. However, under the thick trees, the two had very little rain actually hit them.

Once dawn broke through the clouds, both Ember and Fran made their way cautiously back to the village, along with Beryl who had a great time rolling in every puddle he could seem to find.

"Opicempu Fran!"


	12. A Small Miss Understanding

The trek back to the village took more time than either Ember or Frankie had anticipated, sending them well into the late morning hours. It was a beautiful day out, yet Frankie was becoming more and more frustrated by the minute.

"Beryl! Stop rolling in the mud, this is the third time I've had to wipe you off!" Grabbing the Terror by his tail, she lifted him onto her shoulder. "Now you stay there."

"You ok Fran?" Ember's mouth snapped shut as Frankie shot an angry glare back at her. ("I'll take that as a no.")

"Do I look ok? I'm dirty, I'm cold, I'm tired, AND I have to put up with his shenanigans." Pointing to Beryl, Frankie sighed. "Plus I have to wait up for you and your hand."

"Hold on a second, I was in front of you until you needed to be pushed up the hill back there because you were "tired"." Holding her hand out for Frankie to see, Ember scowled. "I had to push you up the hill with ONE HAND!"

"Oh I'm not that heavy." Frankie scoffed while rolling her eyes.

"Uh, yeah you are." Ember scoffed back. "You try pushing someone up a nearly vertical slope with one hand."

"Are you calling me fat?" Frankie was in Ember's face ready to blow.

"I'm calling you heavy!" Both Ember and Frankie were facing one another with fists curled (in Embers case only one fist). Noticing the lightly evil planning look on Frankie's face, Ember took a step back with a lighter attitude. "Um…why are you looking at me like that?"

"You're becoming a nuisance." A look of wild excitement passed over Frankie's face as she cracked her knuckles with a smile. "You know what I do to the people who annoy me?"

"Fran…what are you planning?" Feeling her instinct nearly ready to kick in, Ember backed away slowly. "Fran?"

Without warning Frankie lunged at Ember.

Thinking fast, Ember turned and slipped away just as Frankie landed in the place she had been standing. "Stop this right now!" running as fast as she could to get away, Ember leaped and ducked under branches and logs lining the forest floor. "Fran!"

-Not so far away…

The entire group had been searching since dawn for both Frankie and Ember. After Frankie's horse turned up with no rider it had caused some concern that perhaps some ill fate had befallen her, and the fact that Ember had run off looking for Marble didn't make things any easier.

Both Astrid and Hiccup had led search parties consisting of Ruffnut and Tuffnut, Fishlegs and Snotlout, and even Marble and Alyssa. The entire team met near the sea cliffs to discuss their findings, which, at the moment, mounted up to nothing.

"Where could they be?" Astrid sat in the saddle of her Nadderhead looking over at Hiccup and the others.

"I don't know, but it's not safe for Ember to be out here with that serpent on the loose. Fran should be fine if she knows what she's doing." Catching the look of concern on Marbles face out of the corner of his eye Hiccup continued. "I'm sure she's fine, but we should keep trying to find her."

At that moment there came an inaudible scream from the forest, and he dragons in the group perked up with intent ears.

For a moment there was no more noise, but soon there came a distant rustling among the bushes. As it came closer the dragons became restless and each positioned it's self in defense of its rider.

"Fran! Don't you touch me!" Eyes closed and with Frankie hot on her heals, Ember rushed blindly through the trees and out into the open.

Everyone including Marble looked on in disbelief as both Ember and Frankie sped past them toward the sea cliffs.

Seeing that both Frankie and Ember would soon find themselves running off the edge, Hiccup looked to the fastest member of the group. "Toothless, don't just stand there!"

Getting the hint, Toothless dashed after the two girls followed immediately by Marble.

Catching up, Frankie almost had Ember by the pony tail before something caught her by the back of the shirt and yanked her back. "Hey! No fair, I almost had her!"

Hearing Frankie's voice getting further behind her, Ember got the message that she had stopped a little too late. ("What the…?") Opening her eyes and looking just ahead she could see the ledge fast approaching, and instinctively put on the breaks. Soon however, she found her feet slipping right over the edge, but to her surprise he didn't fall. "Oh Opicempu… Opicempu…"

With all four feet planted firmly on the cliff top, Marble lifted Ember back toward him with ease. Once he had her safely away from the cliff's edge, her prodded her everywhere he could think of trying to check for any injuries. Upon nudging her wrist, he drew back as she let out a yelp.

"Oh, hi Marble, I was looking for you." Remembering the task she had first set out o complete, Ember smiled embarrassed. "Well I guess I've found you, but what's with all the poking me with our snout?"

"Its how a dragon checks for any damage done to their rider or "companion"." Alyssa stood with her arms crossed as the others behind her did the same (even the dragons looked cross).

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

"Well it's definitely broken." Astrid held Ember's wrist with both hands examining it. "You did quite a number on it. Even I can't help you with this."

That wasn't what Ember wanted to hear at all. "Can't someone help me?" Retracting her hand, she sighed. "It's actually starting to kinda hurt…"

Seeing the look of pain on Ember's face and observing the swollen nature of her wrist, Marble let out few concerning croons as his ears fell back.

Hearing the small noises coming from beside her, Ember looked over as Marbles big loving eyes looked up at her. She had never felt like this before. Unlike the people back in her village, someone actually seemed to notice her pain and show real concern.

It was hard for her to resist reaching out and hugging the large dragon with his big round eyes. The idea of being Marbles rider both excited and concerned her. Not paying attention, she was surprised to find Marble sniffing at her wrist with a low croon. "Hey, don't worry about it. I've had bites that hurt worse than this." A smile drifted across her face and she chuckled. "So don't be too worried about something so small ok?"

Seeming to understand what had been said, Ember sat with ears at attention. However, I didn't take long before he began to scold her. He didn't appreciate the grief she had put him through the night prior, and he wasn't about to let it go by un-noticed.

"I get it, I get it!" holding both hands in the air, a chuckle escaped without Ember's consent and she immediately held her good hand over her mouth. "I understand." Unable to keep to herself, she finally broke down and wrapped her arms around his snout. "You're just like my brother, and I think that's what I like most about you."

Though no one could tell, Marble didn't quite know what this was. A hug was something entirely new to him, or at least, he didn't remember ever receiving one in the past. Attempting to give the same affection back, he pushed his head underneath Embers arm, and nuzzled against her side with a purr.

"Aww, Marble's trying to hug back." Frankie had gone from psycho to sane after returning to the village and getting something to eat.

Affection was new to Ember as well. Being a huntress was not an easy job, and often she was on her own for days at a time. When there were people around, she was either being paid for a private hunting job, or being scolded by the elder members of the tribe for being so unruly. Not even family had the time to show affection. "Well Marble, it looks like I'm going to have to go find the medical expert in this village.

At hearing this, Marble took his place at Embers side. There was absolutely no way he would be letting her out of his sight from now on.

A frustrated sigh escaped as Alyssa marched up to her. "You really should be more careful." Grabbing Embers shirt sleeve, Alyssa led her out the door followed by Marble, and Beryl. "I'll help you once, but only this once. Anything after this, and you're going to owe me through the you know what."

After the door had shut, the entire group began to talk.

"I have a few announcements to make!" Frankie smiled slamming her hand down on the table. I've found the serpents den, and it's the perfect place to set up my trap."

"I've made the chain and the arrows according to yours and Embers instructions, but they were still too heavy to shoot with a normal bow, so I had to make something capable of shooting them long distances." Hiccup sat playing with his mug and chicken leg in front of him. He didn't eat much, which is why Toothless usually had to sit and wait for him to finish. Knowing this, Hiccup found himself having to hide food under the plate or in his mug (which didn't work half the time). Either that or he would have to eat everything in front of him and then exercise more to keep the weight off. After all, he didn't want to end up looking the part of a Viking.

"Well as long as we can aim them, and we get them to stay in place, we should be fine." Fran sat down and laid out a map of the island.

The plan would soon be put into motion.


	13. Strict Gods and Debt

Time…? Tree days…that's the time we were given to complete the task at hand? Why do we have to rush so blindly into things? It's just in my head. I know it's all in my head. This bad feeling is just nerves or something I ate. I shouldn't question this plan. Frankie knows what she's doing and the gods have blessed me with so much good fortune. I should trust them.

Sitting alone behind the wall of trees just outside the bay, Ember hugged her knees and hid half her face behind her knees. Having no one around to see her moment of fear was comforting to her. As far as they knew she was still back at the house, waiting for them to finish. She had been watching the entire time however. The water swirled as it did the day she nearly fell in, and it also remained just as deep and dark as she remembered it.

("Something about this is starting to feel so wrong.") Thoughts raced through the deepest part of her psyche, jumbling and meshing together as the slamming of hammers against metal began to ring deep within her mind. ("I don't know why I feel a sudden urge to stop this whole mess. After all, isn't it my fault entirely for making it so mad? Is it his fault or mine? His? Her? Does it matter? It's trying to kill me after all. Attacking the village wasn't a smart thing to do on its end either. After that, maybe it's like a rabid wolf. Once it bites it never stops and then it has to be taken down. Still, the fact that they won't even let me help is discouraging.")

Hiccup, Astrid, and the others had already unanimously decided that letting Ember near the plan could cause an early attack. She was an obstacle according to both Astrid and Frankie, and until further notice had been ordered to stay back in the village.

Unfortunately, that arrangement wasn't working out so well. Ember had disobeyed what had been ordered of her, but not for the reasons one might think. In actuality, she agreed that she shouldn't be allowed to participate. However, due to recent uneasy feelings and bad omens, she had decided to stick close to the ones working on the plan.

It wasn't easy going back and forth between the bay and the village, especially with Marble wanting to keep such close tabs on her. The only way she had managed to evade the hawk like eye of the night fury was to distract him.

Reluctantly, Marble had agreed to leave the village to help out with the plan, which served as the perfect distraction.

("Alyssa say's that the only reason he's being so overly protective is because of the immediate threat. If it weren't for the serpent, his defensive instinct would loosen its grip and he would be more willing to go hunting and basking like the rest of the dragons…I wonder. After all of this is over-") Ember sat back and curled up tighter. ("-Will he just stop caring?")

Standing up and peering through the trees between her and the others Ember cracked half a smile. Things would go down without a hitch tomorrow, and then everything would go back to…normal.

The sadness she felt with that lat thought took her by surprise. There was nothing really wrong with the life she had lived before all of this, and she made a good living. Sure it got lonely after being out hunting for a while, but he always had company. Wolves (the good kind), deer, wild cats, and bears. Each wild animal she came across that wasn't rabid or blood thirsty was a friend. No, her life wasn't perfect, but still there was no call for this sadness.

("Well, I should get going. They'll be heading back soon and if they find me gone, there's no way I'll be able to sneak out again.") Making her way quickly back through the dense trees, Ember soon found herself standing next to a big beautiful black horse. It was the only way she could make it back to the village before they returned, and it's black color would lessen the chance of anyone seeing her.

Arriving back to the village early, Ember decided that now was a better time than any to take a nap.

~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~0~

"That should do it." Fran smiled overlooking the bay.

Each hook had been expertly placed. All together there would be four hooks and four large cross bows to shot the arrows. To test the strength, each hook had been strapped to at least two dragons and stressed. Frankie was now sure they could hold the serpent still and in place until it tired.

"Ok, well we should be good to go-" As everyone gathered around in a bare patch near the lage hand made net, Frankie spied something unexpected and alarming.

Ne the entrance there seemed to be something floating in the water. It was dark, and here appeared to be something oozing out of it into the water.

Blood.

The serpent had finished its hunt early, and left it's pray at the bay opening. Now she feared it was possibly lurking in the dark water below. Her fears were soon confirmed when the several dragons in the group began to growl and hiss with displeased faces.

Toothless, along with the several other dragons took up a protective stance in front of their riders and companions. Even Beryl (who normally loved eel and serpent) hissed at Frankie's feet.

"What' going on?" Astrid stood slightly in front of Hiccup and the others scanning the dark waters with fists clenched. The presence of one bright yellow moving eye gave her the answer.

"O-ok! Everyone into position now!" Hiccup flung his arm forward as a signal.

Immediately, everyone rushed around the rim of hey bay to reach their positions. There were two people to each station. Hiccup was with Astrid, Ruffnut was with Tuffnut, Fishlegs was with Snotlout, and Frankie was with Alyssa. Each of the two people had a job. One of the two was to load the large arrow into the crossbow, and the other would be the one to attach the chain to the end of the arrow and shoot it.

The Nadderhead, Zippleback, and Gronckle would fly over the Serpent with the net once it had been hooked securely.

The most important jobs belonged to both Toothless and the Nightmare. In order to equily hook the Serpent on all sides, t would have to come out right in the center of the bay. To achieve this, he Nightmare would be the bait. Once the serpent was out of the water, Toothless would shoot a ball of flames just across its nose to distract it long enough for the Nightmare to escape.

Silently Hiccup gave the signal for the Nightmare to begin its task.

There was a long silence as it passed overhead. Rushing and churning water created the only noise audible other than the nightmares beating wings. As it dove the group held its breath. A loud shriek echoed through the air as it began to dive. Just before it reached the surface, the massive dragon spread its wings and shot to the sky. It wasn't the fastest dragon around, but it did its job well, for just as it began its rapid ascent the serpent sot out of the water just as it was supposed to, the top half of its body extending vertically toward the sky with mouth open.

"Now!" Both Hiccup and Astrid gave different signals.

Waving his hand, Hiccup gestured for Toothless to take the shot, and once that was out of the way, Astrid pointed to the serpent's body with a triumphant yell.

What happened next was sheer luck. With one shot, every arrow hi and pierced the scaly hide covering the serpent. The chains were just long enough to allow the serpent some movement, but not enough to attack.

Shrieks and roars are all that could be heard as the beat thrashed from side to side in an enraged state. It had been hooked nearly a fourth of the way down its body, and everyone cheered thinking it was caught.

Suddenly the victory turned to disaster as the serpent opened its mouth with a deep hiss. They had all overlooked one key obstacle that made all the difference.

It could still shoot fire.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0

Back in the village only ten or so minutes before everything had happened in the bay, Ember tossed and turned restlessly in her sleep.

_The gods have run out of patience…you have received much luck. Too much luck for a human to receive all at once. Pay the price._

"_I have nothing to pay you with! What are you?"_

_*inaudible murmuring*_

"_What are you talking about? I don't know what you wish me to pay you in! I have no money…I have nothing to offer you!"_

_You will pay _

"_What have I done to lose favor with the gods? Who are you…where are you…?"_

_I am Oden, leader and king over all things concerning life and death._

"_You lie…why would the gods bless me…why would they bless me just to punish me for the blessings they've bestowed upon me?"_

_You didn't give back. You didn't meet us half way. Now is the time to pay the debt you owe us. If not now, then later. Either way, we will be watching._

"_Watching?" _

It didn't take long for Ember to shoot up and away from the pillows in a fit of fear. Warmth filed her entire boy, and looking around the nearly lit room she sighed. ("It was just a night-terror…") Placing her feet on the floor, she held her face in the palm of her good hand as she rose to her feet.(" What could a dream like that mean? Have I done something to anger the gods?")

"What's this about me meeting the gods-" Directly in her ear there came a whisper.

_Half way…_

Hearing the voice from her dreams come so close, she tuned with a gasp and looked around. There was no one other than herself in the room, and shaking her head she could feel something go very wrong. The warmth she felt reminded her of a fire and that's when she remembered the serpents fire ball.

Grabbing the bow and arrow, Ember ran out the door.

Had she not been in such a flustered rush, she might have seen what the fates had done as she slept. Had she observed her bed…

…she might have seen what other than night-terrors had accompanied her as she slept.


	14. No Fear

Not fast enough…what if I don't make it…they could be killed all because of me. I should be the one trying to kill it…not them, never them. This burning I feel is

Even on the fastest horse in Berk, Ember was still aching for more speed. There was still a fair way to go before she would arrive at the thick trees, and then she would have to get through the trees.

The plan was simple. She didn't have one.

"Oden! I swear to you on my life that I will face hell it's self if you spear them!" Tears welled in her eyes as fear grew. The message from the Chief of the gods himself played over many times in her mind as she rode faster.

The all knowing and watchful eyes of Oden were now focused on her, and continually it seemed he would send her small signs of the trial ahead. Fallen trees, sinkholes, and worst of all snakes. All of these things showed up on the way back to the bay, and each hadn't been there when she had passed the area several hours prior.

Signs showed up in another way as well.

What Ember had at first suspected to be a tired delirium after her restless nap, now sent a burning heat coursing through the core of her body. Trials were never pleasant, but now that Oden was playing a hand in her misery things looked dire.

The bow and two arrows at her disposal were the only weapons she had. They were normal arrows, and being such, they wouldn't stand a chance against the serpents hide. There would only be one way to get an accurate shot in her condition to any vital areas.

The thought didn't settle well with her, and she cringed just imagining what she would have to do. Two arrows would be enough for her new plan. One arrow to get the serpents attention, and the other arrow to bring the beast down.

If a Sea Serpent were anything like a bear (and she desperately hopped they were), then there would be a soft spot in the roof of its mouth. This was a technique she had never used, and had only ever heard rumors of how to do it.

First thing would be to completely blind the serpent with the first arrow. This would leave only the serpents sense of smell and hearing to hunt her down.

Second she would have to get it close…uncomfortably close. Just how close? Feet. The soft spot would be located further back in the snakes mouth, and she only had one chance to get it right.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Finally she found herself trudging through the denser part of the forest as fast as her feet would take her. The delirium she felt before had only worsened, making the task of climbing over trees and ducking under branches feel like an impossible feat.

By the time she had reached the bay, things were quiet. That in its self would have put her at ease had there not been the smell of smoke filling the air. Examining the area, she could see the remain of chains hanging from the wall, and in some areas there were gaping holes and crevasses where it appeared that blasts had been set off.

Speaking was difficult, but she forced herself to say something, anything at all to let anyone know she was there. "G-guys?"

Almost instantaneously there came several roars and cries in reply. "EMBER!"

Looking down, Ember fell to her knees and peered over the edge. "Guy's!" Yelling wasn't the appropriate thing to do with the way she felt, and as she did so se was nearly thrown off balance. "What are you doing…?"

"Ember! Do you have a dagger? Anything sharp on you at all?" Alyssa and the others stood on the sand looking up at her.

The dragons (with the acceptation of Toothless and the Nightmare) were meshed together in the net they had been assigned to drop. It appeared to be half singed and cut as the dragons inside attempted to get away. One of the few dragons in the net was Marble, who, as seeing Ember's presence, thrashed with even more fury.

"No, I don't h-h…" For a moment the delirium intensified, and Ember was without words at all.

"You ok up there?" Astrid cupped her hands over her mouth to amplify the sound. Being so far down, neither she nor anyone else could really see how pail Ember now looked. "We need a knife! Do you have one or don't you!"

"I-I don't have one!" Standing up Ember grasped the bow and the two arrows firmly in her hand. "I'll have to-"

"Look out!"

Hearing Hiccup' frantic words, Ember looked up and saw the serpent looking down on her from the tree tops. Instinct took over, and as weak as she felt, her body forced it's self to spring out of the way as it attempted to strike.

There was a loud crash as the serpent's snout made contact with the edge of the cliff sending it half tumbling over the edge. With its prey in sight, there was no way it would be allowing her to escape it's with this time around.

The only thing to do at this point was run for cover. Options were dwindling by the second, and Ember's vision was starting to go along with her voice and energy. Finding a thick crop of oak trees, she ducked down and out of sight before the beast could regain its.

As soon as she was safely inside, Ember could feel the massive creature slamming it's body against the tree before suddenly…it stopped.

("What in the name of Oden…where is it now?") Feeling something pulling her to look out, Ember was met by the sight of one highly deadly Sea Serpent holding one very unconscious Frankie in its mouth. Her heart rate sank along with her spirit.

It was one very smart serpent, that knew exactly how to get what it wanted.

For the most part Frankie looked fine. Unconscious and in the mouth of a massive Sea Serpent, but not bloody or hurt. Just asleep.

Raising the bow and arrow into position Ember knew what she had to do. Stepping out from the safety of the trees, she could see a bare flap patch of rock near the outer edge of the bay where the trees thinned. ("I-if I could get over there…and lead it away from the rest of the group…I'll have enough room to move around.")

"Follow me ugly…" stretching the arrow back with her had hand, Ember found there to be no more pain, only exhaustion. Using a side step, she inched her way around the bay as smoothly as possible. There were shouts and roars from the group trapped below, and both Toothless and the nightmare were STILL nowhere to be found.

"Put her down!" Alyssa and the others stood tossing rocks and twigs at the beast, trying to persuade it to release Frankie from its grip. "Ember! What are you waiting for? Shoot!"

As they rounded the bay, the serpent grew ever closer to Ember. It was painfully obvious how tempting it was becoming to swallow Frankie whole, and if Ember didn't do something soon, there would be no more Frankie at all.

She wasn't going to let that happen.

First foot on the patch of rock triggered a slight smile. "Idiot."

Not completely understanding what his prey was up to the serpent narrowed its eye. Little did it know that that would be the last dirty look it would ever give.

"Put her down!" Opening her hand to release the arrow, she was adequately satisfied as it made contact with the serpent's once good eye.

Finding its self blinded with the pain of losing anther eye, the beast open its mouth with a screech of pain.

Frankie tumbled for twenty or so feet before coming into contact with Ember who had taken up position under her to break the fall.

For Ember, life just continued to worse and worse as the day went on. Finding the serpent to be preoccupied with its injury, Ember did her best to drag Frankie into the trees. However, she could only manage a couple of feet before dropping to her knees.

It had happened. Her legs were numb, and there was still a live, angry serpent regaining its strength behind them.

("This is all my fault…I should never have come here. I shouldn't have ever blinded the serpent.") Conflicting thoughts began to make their way into her mind, and even being as delirious as she was they all made sense. ("No. if I hadn't come here Marble..Marble would have died. If I hadn't come here, I would have never befriended a dragon, and made such good friends like Frankie, Hiccup, Astrid, and all of the others. If I hadn't blinded the serpent. I'd be dead.")

"You're wrong Oden…Oden! I've met you half way! I've always med you half way! I did what I did because it was necessary!" Finding her legs, she stood up. "If you want more…then I'll do it all myself." Taking the one arrow in her hand, Ember had a new plan.

Walking forward she could barely make out the shouts and intense shrieks coming from her stranded group of friends on the beach. It was ok. She was fine with this, even if they weren't. After all this whole mess wasn't entirely on her behalf. There was a village in danger, so many people and dragons that needed protecting because of the mess she had made.

"I'm not going to be afraid. Oden, I just have one last request…" She spoke in a whisper and clutched the arrow with both hands.

The serpent honed in on the whisper and lunged with its jaws open wide.

("Have mercy on this creatures soul.")

Snapping its mouth closed on Ember the serpent hissed.


	15. Bliss

"Ember!" Frankie stood up still uneasy from being knocked out cold. What she had awoken to both shocked and alarmed her. First a failed plan and now Ember had been swallowed up in front of her.

_(_"_What was she thinking?") _

_("What was I thinking?")_

Ember pressed the arrow deep into the serpents flesh, and all at once could hear it screech in protest. Her feet were now the only thing outside the snake's mouth, and at this point it would take a miracle for her to make it out. A miracle she feared she didn't have.However she didn't see the events turning in her favor outside.

Marble and the other's were now free, and with no time to spare he was flying toward the Serpent with an angry loud roar. He had never been more determined than he was right now, and nothing would stand in his way.

Just as the snake began to lift its head to swallow Ember whole, a blast hit it square in the head. Toothless had joined the fight just in time as he raced from the thick crop of trees. Now that both Night Furies had it in their sights, there was no way the serpent would make it.

Feeling surrounded in its own prison of darkness, the beast hissed with Ember still in its mouth. With one last attempt at escape, a fire began to form in its throat. However, this effort was in vane, for the moment it had mustered up even the smallest fire ball, Marble sent several blasts smashing into the beasts throat causing it's airways to collapse. There was no escape.

Now the other dragons and their riders had joined in, and were proceeding to hit the beast from all sides. Soon the serpent's toxic blood had caught fire, and with one last blow to the head from Marble, the arrow Ember had been trying so desperately to force through the roof of its mouth, finally rammed it's self into the Beasts brain. Within moments the monster was dead and slipping over the side of the cliff toward the whirl pool.

This was not good.

"Help me get her out of here!" Hiccup jumped from his place on Astrid's saddle and ran toward the serpents head. Seeing a small bit of Embers left leg protruding from the snakes jaws, he attempted to hold on to it.

Unfortunately, the jaws were still snapped closed, and they appeared to be staying that way.

Astrid and Frankie raced up followed by Ruffnut, Tuffnut, Snotlout and Fishlegs (Not to mention Marble and Toothless). Trying to find some way to free Ember from the beats mouth, some strained as they attempted to keep the Serpent from slipping over the edge, while others tried to pry the mouth opened.

Still, it didn't budge.

Finally, the rest dragons (seeing their companions in such dire distress) decided to join in. It was still a problem to get the mouth open, but the body now stood securely.

"Ember can you hear me?" Alyssa stood hunched over attempting to peer into the serpent's mouth as much as she could. "Ember, cam you hear me? Answer me if you can hear me." Trying to keep calm was difficult under the circumstances, and at this point she feared the worse.

In all reality, Ember COULD hear Alyssa's voice. The only problem was, hat much like the rest of her world, things were growing darker and fainter.

("Everyone's ok…I can rest now.")

_Rest up, because you're going to need it._

("I'm sure I will…after all hell's a nasty place.")

With that thought she could feel the world lift away. There was nothing now. Noting but darkness and peace. Having her troubles seem to fade away with her life gave Ember a feeling of peace she had never known, and for a minute she was happy.

Soon however, there came a change in this peaceful bliss. Heat. She was on fire from head to toe, still being covered with darkness.

The dark space around her began to devour her until she went under, into a sea of anguish and fear. Pain engulfed her arm and side as her heart began to race. This was hell. A fate worse than death, filled with the most vial of all creatures.

One by one figures of muck and blood rose from the depths of the dark sea and grabbed her. Hundreds of hands holding her under and pulling her down. Fear...Heat…pain…this was hell.

("Tremors?") Something seemed to shake her at that moment. It was light and very low. There was something vaguely familiar about this feeling, but she couldn't tell exactly what it was.

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Nightmare after nightmare seemed to shake Ember's body as she lay next to Marble on the floor of the hut. He crooned with a suffering voice having to watch his rider suffer such pain. If only he had stayed with her instead of leaving…if only. That was the only thing on his mind as he curled around her quaking body, and extended a wing over her for warmth.

His face was a familiar one to both Astrid and Hiccup as they sat with Toothless on the other side of the room.

"Birds of a feather, huh Hiccup." Astrid leaned against Hiccups shoulder for support, and nudged him with a smile.

"Yep, they're just like." He nudges her back with a smile on his face. "They're just about as similar as day and night."

"Well I see the similarities." Astrid cracked a wide smile. "She never left his side when he was sick, and now he won't leave hers. I think it's sweet."

Seeing Astrid's smile fade away, Hiccup found himself concerned. "You ok?"

"You know what? No. I'm not ok." Now was a better time than never to use the advice Ember had given her a while back. "I'm upset…I've been upset for a long time, but now I really know why."

Hiccup listened intently. "Astrid, what's this all about?"

"It's about us, and how you never eke me riding anymore." The tone of her voice was firm and lacking in any wavering at all.

"So that's what you're moods have been about…why didn't you just tell me that I wasn't making enough time for you?"

"I know you have a lot of responsibility now that you're occasionally taking over for your father, and I didn't want to add one more thing to your list of things to fix."

"I live to fix that problem. Astrid-" Hiccup found him-self interrupted as a startled release of air from the other side of the room got his attention.

Marble crooned in excitement, and wriggled trying not to move like he wished to. Several more croons and bellows were followed by a few soft licks to Embers face. Opening his mouth it looked as if Marble might be trying to help her come around.

It worked.

_Huh? _Cracking her eyes open after having yet another nightmare, Ember did her best to focus past the delirium. "M-Mable…?" Rising her hand and reaching out to touch him, she smiled upon making contact with him. Unlike how she felt in her dreams, her body felt surprisingly cool to the touch, and his scales warmed her and to the bone as she held it in place. "How are you doin?"

She would be fine now that she had woken up a little bit.

"Hello all." Alyssa walked in followed by Frankie with a smile on her face. "Well, look who finally decided to re-join the living." Walking over to Ember, she took a few vitals and shook her head. "You mind telling the class what you were thinking?"

"The s-serpent…I had to…" The words spilled out of her mouth like air and she wasn't sure what to say. "Killed it…"

"No not THAT. Though. That was stupid too." Frankie crossed her arms looking down at Ember with a joking scowl. "What she means is, what do you think you were doing sleeping with a diamond back viper?"

Now Ember was confused. The new activity caused the pain in her wrist and side to increase, and she laid still. "I-I don't know…what you're…talking about."

Reaching into a bag, Alyssa pulled out a now dead white snake with a diamond pattern on its back. "I knew you had been poisoned, and when I found this curled in your bed I knew it was trouble. You probably laid down for a nap not knowing it was there."

Thinking hard on the events of what she could only assume was just yesterday, a smile stretched across Embers face.

Sensing that she was still in much pain, this cheerful attitude surprised Marble, who watched intently for any signs of delirium.

Had she not gone home, Ember would have never taken a nap. Had she not taken the nap se would have never and the dream, and without the snake…Ember might not have reached the same conclusion she had after waking up. It seemed that the only time she could realize the danger…was when she couldn't think straight at all.

This made sense to her and despite the pain she closed her eyes. "Thank the gods for what they do." With that she went under again, but this time there were no nightmares.

All was quiet in the room, seeing as no one really had any idea what had just happened.

All was quiet that is, accept for Frankie.

"I wonder where Marble ran off too…"

-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-0-

Down on the small beach in the bay where the serpent had washed ashore, all that remained were bones. Among the bones sat a content Terrible Terror which sat with its head tilted as it thought. Beryl was a strange little dragon, but what no one else knew, is that he…had a love for sea serpent.


End file.
